Red   Saunders 


*fi  d  Saunders 


Red  Saunders 

His  Adventures  West  &  East 

By 
Henry  Wallace  Phillips 


New  York 

McClure,  Phillips  &  Co. 
Mcmv 


Copyright,  1902,  by  McCLURE,  PHILLIPS  &  Co, 

Copyright,  1900  and  1901,  by  S.  S.  McCLURE  Co. 
Copyright,  igor,*  &y.B.ERNARD-Rfc$A^Rnfr  Co.,  LTD. 


Published,  March,  IQO2,  R. 
Seventh  Impression. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

A  CHANCE  SHOT i 

A  RED-HAIRED  CUPID 17 

THE  GOLDEN  FORD 53 

WHEN  THE  CHINOOK  STRUCK  FAIRFIELD  .        .  93 


M18191 


A  Chance  Shot 


A   Chance   Shot 

REDDY  and  I  were  alone  at  the  Lake 
beds.       He    sat    outside    the     cabin, 
braiding    a    leather    hat-band — eight 
strands,  and  the  "  repeat  "  figure — an  art  that 
I  never  could  master. 

I  sat  inside,  with  a  one-pound  package  of 
smoking  tobacco  beside  me,  and  newspapers 
within  reach,  rolling  the  day's  supply  of  cigar 
ettes. 

Reddy  stopped  his  story  long  enough  to 
say :  "  Don't  use  the  '  Princess'  Slipper,'  Kid 
— that  paper  burns  my  tongue — take  the 
'  Granger  ';  there's  plenty  of  it." 

WELL,  as  I  was  saying,  I'd  met  a  lot  of 
the  boys  up  in  town  this  day,  and  they 
threw  as  many  as  two  drinks  into  me;  I  know 
that  for  certain,  because  when  we  took  the 
parting  dose,  I  had  a  glass  of  whisky  in  both 
my  right  hands,  and  had  just  twice  as  many 
friends  as  when  I  started. 

When  I  pulled  out  for  home,  I  felt  mighty 
3 


Saunders 

good  v  for;  myself — not  exactly  looking  for 
trouble,  but  not  a-going  to  dodge  it  any, 
either.  I  was  warbling  "  Idaho  "  for  all  I 
was  worth — you  know  how  pretty  I  can  sing? 
Cock-eyed  Peterson  used  to  say  it  made  him 
forget  all  his  troubles.  "  Because,"  says  he, 
"  you  don't  notice  trifles  when  a  man  bats  you 
over  the  head  with  a  two-by-four." 

Well,  I  was  enjoying  everything  in  sight, 
even  a  little  drizzle  of  rain  that  was  driving  by 
in  rags  of  wetness,  when  a  flat-faced  swatty  at 
Fort  Johnson  halted  me. 

Now  it's  a  dreadful  thing  to  be  butted  to 
death  by  a  nanny-goat,  but  for  a  full-sized 
cowpuncher  to  be  held  up  by  a  soldier  is  worse 
yet. 

To  say  that  I  was  hot  under  the  collar  don't 
give  you  the  right  idea  of  the  way  I  felt. 

"  Why,  you  cross  between  the  Last  Rose  of 
Summer  and  a  bobtailed  flush ! "  says  I, 
"what  d'yer  mean?  What's  got  into  you? 
Get  out  of  my  daylight,  you  dog-robber,  or 
I'll  walk  the  little  horse  around  your  neck 
like  a  three-ringed  circus.  Come,  pull  your 
freight!" 

It  seems  that  this  swatty  had  been  chucked 


A  Chance  Shot  5 

out  of  the  third  story  of  Frenchy's  dance  em 
porium  by  Bronc.  Thompson,  which  threw  a 
great  respect  for  our  profesh  into  him.  Con 
sequently  he  wasn't  fresh  like  most  soldiers, 
but  answers  me  as  polite  as  a  tin-horn  gambler 
on  pay-day. 

Says  he :  "I  just  wanted  to  tell  you  that 
old  Frosthead  and  forty  braves  are  some'ers 
between  here  and  your  outfit,  with  their  war 
paint  on  and  blood  in  their  eyes,  cayoodling 
and  whoopin'  fit  to  beat  hell  with  the  blower 
on,  and  if  you  get  tangled  up  with  them,  I 
reckon  they'll  give  you  a  hair-cut  and  sham 
poo,  to  say  nothing  of  other  trimmings.  They 
say  they're  after  the  Crows,  but  it's  a  ten-dol 
lar  bill  against  a  last  year's  bird's-nest  that 
they'll  take  on  any  kind  of  trouble  that  comes 
along.  Their  hearts  is  mighty  bad,  they  state, 
and  when  an  Injun's  heart  gets  spoiled,  the 
disease  is  d — d  catching.  You'd  better  stop 
awhile." 

"  Now,  cuss  old  Frosthead,  and  you  too !  " 
says  I.  "  If  he  comes  crow-hopping  on  my 
reservation,  I'll  kick  his  pantalettes  on  top  of 
his  scalp-lock." 

"  All  right,  pardner !  "  says  he.    "  It's  your 


6  Red  Saunders 

own  funeral.  My  orders  was  to  halt  every  one 
going  through;  but  I  ain't  a  whole  company, 
so  you  can  have  it  your  own  way.  Only,  if 
your  friends  have  to  take  you  home  in  a  coal 
scuttle,  don't  blame  me.  Pass,  friend !  " 

So  I  went  through  the  officers'  quarters 
forty  miles  an  hour,  letting  out  a  string  of 
yells  you  might  have  heard  to  the  coast,  just 
to  show  my  respect  for  the  United  States 
army. 

Now  this  has  always  been  my  luck :  When 
ever  I  made  a  band-wagon  play,  somebody's 
sure  to  strike  me  for  my  licence.  Or  else  the 
team  goes  into  the  ditch  a  mile  further  on, 
and  I  come  out  about  as  happy  as  a  small  yal- 
ler  dog  at  a  bob-cat's  caucus. 

Some  fellers  can  run  in  a  rhinecaboo  that 
'd  make  the  hair  stand  up  on  a  bufreler  robe, 
and  get  away  with  it  just  like  a  mice;  but  that 
ain't  me.  If  I  sing  a  little  mite  too  high  in  the 
cellar,  down  comes  the  roof  a-top  of  me.  So 
it  was  this  day.  Old  Johnny  Hardluck  socked 
it  to  me,  same  as  usual. 

Gosh  a'mighty !  The  liquor  died  in  me  after 
a  while,  and  I  went  sound  asleep  in  the  saddle, 
and  woke  up  with  a  jar — to  find  myself  right 


A  Chance  Shot  7 

in  the  middle  of  old  Frosthead's  gang;  the 
drums  "  &00w-blipping,"  and  those  forty-odd 
red  tigers  "  hyah-hayahing  "  in  a  style  that 
made  my  skin  get  up  and  walk  all  over  me 
with  cold  feet. 

How  in  blazes  I'd  managed  to  slip  through 
those  Injuns  I  don't  know.  'Twould  have 
been  a  wonderful  piece  of  scouting  if  I'd 
meant  it.  You  can  'most  always  do  any  darn 
thing  you  don't  want  to  do,  Well,  there  I  was, 
and,  oh  Doctor !  but  wasn't  I  in  a  lovely  mess ! 
That  war-song  put  a  crimp  into  me  that  Jack 
Frost  himself  couldn't  take  out. 

It  was  as  dark  as  dark  by  this  time.  The 
moon  just  stuck  one  eye  over  the  edge  of  the 
prairie,  and  the  rest  of  the  sky  was  covered 
with  cloud.  A  little  light  came  from  the  In 
juns'  camp-fire,  but  not  enough  to  ride  by, 
and,  besides,  I  didn't  know  which  way  I  ought 
to  go. 

Says  I  to  myself,  "  Billy  Sanders,  you  are 
the  champion  all-around,  old-fashioned  fool  of 
the  district.  You  are  a  jackass  from  the  coun 
try  where  ears  less'n  three  foot  long  are  curi 
osities.  You  sassed  that  poor  swatty  that 
wanted  to  keep  you  out  of  this,  tooting  your 


8  Red  Saunders 

bazoo  like  a  man  peddling  soap;  but  now  it's 
up  to  you.  What  are  you  going  to  do  about 
it?  "  and  I  didn't  get  any  answer,  neither. 

Well,  it  was  no  use  asking  myself  conun 
drums  out  there  in  the  dark  when  time  was  so 
scarce.  So  I  wraps  my  hankercher  around 
Laddy's  nose  to  keep  him  from  talking  horse 
to  the  Injun  ponies,  and  prepared  to  sneak  to 
where  I'd  rather  be. 

Laddy  was  the  quickest  thing  on  legs  in 
that  part  of  the  country — out  of  a  mighty  spry 
little  Pinto  mare  by  our  thoroughbred  Ken 
tucky  horse — and  I  knew  if  I  could  get  to  the 
open  them  Injuns  wouldn't  have  much  of  a 
chance  to  take  out  my  stopper  and  examine 
my  works — not  much.  A  half-mile  start,  and 
I  could  show  the  whole  Sioux  nation  how  I 
wore  my  hair. 

I  cut  for  the  place  where  the  Injuns  seemed 
thinnest,  lifting  myself  up  till  I  didn't  weigh 
fifteen  pound,  and  breathing  only  when  neces 
sary.  We  got  along  first-rate  until  we  reached 
the  edge  of  'em,  and  then  Laddy  had  to  stick 
his  foot  in  a  gopher-hole,  and  walloped  around 
there  like  a  whale  trying  to  climb  a  tree. 

Some  darn  cuss  of  an  Injun  threw  a  handful 


A  Chance  Shot  9 

of  hay  on  the  fire,  and,  as  it  blazed  up,  the 
whole  gang  spotted  me. 

I  unlimbered  my  gun,  sent  the  irons  into 
Laddy,  and  we  began  to  walk. 

I  didn't  like  to  make  for  the  ranch,  as  I 
knew  the  boys  were  short-handed,  so  I  pointed 
north,  praying  to  the  good  Lord  that  I'd  hit 
some  kind  of  settlement  before  I  struck  the 
North  Pole. 

Well,  we  left  those  Injuns  so  far  behind 
that  there  wasn't  any  fun  in  it.  I  slacked  up, 
patting  myself  on  the  back;  and,  as  the  trouble 
seemed  all  over,  I  was  just  about  to  turn  for 
the  ranch,  when  I  heard  horses  galloping,  and 
as  the  moon  came  out  a  little  I  saw  a  whole 
raft  of  redskins  a-boiling  up  a  draw  not  half  a 
mile  away.  That  knocked  me  slab-sided.  It 
looked  like  I  got  the  wrong  ticket  every  time 
the  wheel  turned. 

I  whooped  it  up  again,  swearing  I  wouldn't 
stop  this  deal  short  of  a  dead  sure  thing.  We 
flew  through  space — Laddy  pushing  a  hole  in 
the  air  like  a  scart  kiyote  making  for  home  and 
mother. 

A  ways  down  the  valley  I  spotted  a  little 
shack  sitting  all  alone  by  itself  out  in  the 


10  Red  Saunders 

moonlight.  I  headed  for  it,  hollering  mur 
der. 

A  man  came  to  the  door  in  his  under-rig 
ging- 

"Hi,  there!  What's  eating  you?"  he 
yells. 

"  Injuns  coming,  pardner !  The  country's 
just  oozing  Injuns!  Better  get  a  wiggle  on 
you ! " 

"All  right— slide  along,  I'll  ketch  up  to 
you,"  says  he. 

I  looked  back  and  saw  him  hustling  out 
with  his  saddle  on  his  arm.  "  He's  a  particu 
lar  kind  of  cuss,"  I  thought;  "  bareback  would 
suit  most  people." 

Taking  it  a  little  easier  for  the  next  couple 
of  miles,  I  gave  him  a  chance  to  pull  up. 

We  pounded  along  without  saying  any 
thing  for  a  spell,  when  I  happened  to  notice 
that  his  teeth  were  chattering. 

"  Keep  your  nerve  up,  pardner ! "  says  I. 
"  Don't  you  get  scared — we've  got  a  good 
start  on  'em." 

He  looked  at  me  kind  of  reproachful. 

"  Scared  be  derned ! "  says  he.  "  I  reckon 
if  you  was  riding  around  this  nice  cool  night 


A   Chance  Shot  11 

in  your  drawers,  your  teeth  'ud  rattle  some, 
too." 

I  took  a  look  at  him,  and  saw,  sure  enough, 
while  he  had  hat,  coat,  and  boots  on,  the  pants 
was  missing.  Well,  if  it  had  been  the  last  act, 
I'd  have  had  to  laugh. 

"  Couldn't  find  'em  nohow/'  says  he; 
"  hunted  high  and  low,  jick,  Jack,  and  the 
game — just  comes  to  my  mind  now  that  I  had 
'em  rolled  up  and  was  sleeping  on  'em.  I 
don't  like  to  go  around  this  way — I  feel  as  if  I 
was  two  men,  and  one  of  'em  hardly  respect 
able." 

"  Did  you  bring  a  gun  with  you?  " 

He  gave  me  another  stare.  "  Why,  pard- 
ner,  you  must  think  I  have  got  a  light  and 
frivolous  disposition,"  says  he,  and  with  that 
he  heaves  up  the  great-grand-uncle  of  all  the 
six-shooters  I  ever  did  see.  It  made  my  forty- 
five-long  look  like  something  for  a  kid  to  cut 
its  teeth  on.  "  That's  the  best  gun  in  this 
country,"  he  went  on. 

"  Looks  as  if  it  might  be,"  says  I.  "  Has 
the  foundry  that  cast  it  gone  out  of  business? 
I'd  like  to  have  one  like  it,  if  it's  as  dangerous 
as  it  looks." 


ii  Red  Saunders 

"  When  I  have  any  trouble  with  a  man," 
says  he,  "  I  don't  want  to  go  pecking  at  him 
with  a  putty-blower,  just  irritating  him,  and 
giving  him  a  little  skin  complaint  here  and 
there;  I  want  something  that'll  touch  his  con 
science." 

He  had  it,  for  a  broadside  from  that  battery 
would  scatter  an  elephant  over  a  township. 

We  loped  along  quiet  and  easy  until  sun-up. 
The  Grindstone  Buttes  lay  about  a  mile  ahead 
of  us.  Looking  back,  we  saw  the  Injuns  com 
ing  over  a  rise  of  ground  'way  in  the  distance. 

"  Now,"  says  my  friend,  "  I  know  a  short 
cut  through  those  hills  that'll  bring  us  out  at 
Johnson's.  They've  got  enough  punchers 
there  to  do  the  United  States  army  up — 
starched  and  blued.  Shall  we  take  it?  " 

"  Sure !  "  says  I.  "  I'm  only  wandering 
around  this  part  of  the  country  because  this 
part  of  the  country  is  here — if  it  was  any 
wheres  else  I'd  be  just  as  glad." 

So  in  we  went.  It  was  the  steepest  and 
narrowest  kind  of  a  canon,  looking  as  if  it  had 
been  cut  out  of  the  rock  with  one  crack  of  the 
axe.  I  was  just  thinking:  "Gee  whiz!  but 
this  would  be  a  poor  place  to  get  snagged  in," 


A   Chance  Shot  13 

when  bang!  says  a  rifle  right  in  front  of  us, 
and  m-e-arr!  goes  the  bullet  over  our  heads. 

We  were  off  them  horses  and  behind  a 
couple  of  chunks  of  rock  sooner  than  we 
hoped  for,  and  that's  saying  a  good  deal. 

"  Cussed  poor  shot,  whoever  he  is,"  says  my 
friend.  "  Some  Injun  holding  us  here  till  the 
rest  come  up,  I  presume." 

"  That's  about  the  size  of  it— and  I'd  like 
to  make  you  a  bet  that  he  does  it,  too,  if  I 
thought  I'd  have  a  chance  to  collect." 

"  Oh,  you  can't  always  tell — you  might  lose 
your  money,"  says  he,  kind  of  thoughtful. 

"  I  wouldn't  mind  that  half  as  much  as  win 
ning,"  says  I.  "  But  on  the  square,  do  you 
think  we  can  get  out?  I'll  jump  him  with  you 
if  you  say  so,  although  I  ain't  got  what  you 
might  call  a  passion  for  suicide." 

"  Now  you  hold  on  a  bit,"  says  he.  "  I 
don't  know  but  what  we'd  have  done  better 
to  stick  to  the  horses,  and  run  for  it,  but  it's 
too  late  to  think  of  that.  Jumping  him  is  all 
foolishness;  he'd  sit  behind  his  little  rock  and 
pump  lead  into  us  till  we  wouldn't  float  in 
brine — and  we  can't  back  out  now." 

He  talked  so  calm  it  made  me  kind  of  mad. 


14  Red  Saunders 

"  Well,"  says  I,  "  in  that  case,  let's  play  '  Si 
mon  says  thumbs  up  '  till  the  rest  of  the  crowd 


comes." 


"  There  you  go !  "  says  he.  "  Just  like  all 
young  fellers — gettin'  hosstyle  right  away  if 
you  don't  fall  in  with  their  plans.  Now, 
Sonny,  you  keep  your  temper,  and  watch  me 
play  cushion  carroms  with  our  friend  there." 

"  Meaning  how?  " 

"  You  see  that  block  of  stone  just  this  side 
of  him  with  the  square  face  towards  us?  Well, 
he's  only  covered  in  front,  and  I'm  a-going  to 
shoot  against  that  face  and  ketch  him  on  the 
glance." 

"  Great,  if  you  could  work  it !  "  says  I.  "  But 
Lord!" 

"  Well,  watch !  "  says  he.  Then  he  squinched 
down  behind  his  cover,  so  as  not  to  give  the 
Injun  an  opening,  trained  his  cannon  and 
pulled  the  trigger.  The  old  gun  opened  her 
mouth  and  roared  like  an  earthquake,  but  I 
didn't  see  any  dead  Injun.  Then  twice  more 
she  spit  fire,  and  still  there  weren't  any  desir 
able  corpses  to  be  had. 

"  Say,  pardner,"  says  I,  "  you  wouldn't 
make  many  cigars  at  this  game ! " 


A  Chance   Shot  15 

"  Now,  don't  you  get  oneasy,"  says  he. 
"  Just  watch !  " 

"Biff!"  says  the  old  gun,  and  this  time, 
sure  enough,  the  Injun  was  knocked  clear  of 
the  rock.  I  felt  all  along  that  he  wouldn't  be 
much  of  a  comfort  to  his  friends  afterwards, 
if  that  gun  did  land  on  him. 

Still,  he  wasn't  so  awful  dead,  for  as  we 
jumped  for  the  horses  he  kind  of  hitched  him 
self  to  the  rock,  and  laying  the  rifle  across  it, 
and  working  the  lever  with  his  left  hand,  he 
sent  a  hole  plumb  through  my  hat. 

"  Bully  boy !  "  says  I.  I  snapped  at  him,  and 
smashed  the  lock  of  his  rifle  to  flinders.  Then, 
of  course,  he  was  our  meat. 

As  we  rode  up  to  him,  my  pard  held  dead  on 
him.  The  Injun  stood  up  straight  and  tall, 
and  looked  us  square  in  the  eye — say,  he  was 
a  man,  I  tell  you,  red-skin  or  no  red-skin.  The 
courage  just  stuck  out  on  him  as  he  stood 
there,  waiting  to  pass  in  his  checks. 

My  pardner  threw  the  muzzle  of  his  gun  up. 
"  D— n  it !  "  says  he,  "  I  can't  do  it— he's 
game  from  the  heart  out !  But  the  Lord  have 
mercy  on  his  sinful  soul  if  he  and  I  run  foul  of 
each  other  on  the  prairie  again !  " 


16  Red  Saunders 

Then  we  shacked  along  down  to  Johnson's 
and  had  breakfast. 

"What  became  of  Frosthead  and  his 
gang?  "  Oh,  they  sent  out  a  regiment  or  two, 
and  gathered  him  in — 'bout  twenty-five  sol 
diers  to  an  Injun.  No,  no  harm  was  done.  Me 
and  my  pard  were  the  only  ones  that  bucked 
up  against  them.  Chuck  out  a  cigarette,  Kid; 
my  lungs  ache  for  want  of  a  smoke. 


A   Red-Haired   Cupid 


A   Red-Haired   Cupid 

44  IT  "W  OW  did  I  come  to  get  myself  dis- 
I  I  liked  down  at  the  Chanta  Seechee? 
A  A  Well,  I'll  tell  you,"  said  Reddy,  the 
cow-puncher.  "  The  play  came  up  like  this. 
First,  they  made  the  Chanta  Seechee  into 
a  stock  company,  then  the  stock  company 
put  all  their  brains  in  one  think,  and  says 
they,  *  We'll  make  this  man  Jones  super 
intendent,  and  the  ranch  is  all  right  at 
once.'  So  out  comes  Jones  from  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  and  what  he  didn't  know  about 
running  a  ranch  was  common  talk  in  the  coun 
try,  but  what  he  thought  he  knew  about  run 
ning  a  ranch  was  too  much  for  one  man  to 
carry  around.  He  wasn't  a  bad-hearted  feller 
in  some  ways,  yet  on  the  whole  he  felt  it  was 
an  honour  to  a  looking-glass  to  have  the  pleas 
ure  of  reflecting  him.  Looking-glass?  I 
should  say  he  had !  And  a  bureau,  and  a  boot- 
blacking  jigger,  and  a  feather  bed,  and  cur 
tains,  and  truck  in  his  room.  Strange  fellers 
used  to  open  their  eyes  when  they  saw  that 
19 


20  Red  Saunders 

room.  'Helloo-o!'  they'd  say,  'whose  little 
birdie  have  we  here? '  And  other  remarks 
that  hurt  our  feelings  considerable.  Jonesy, 
he  said  the  fellers  were  a  rank  lot  of  barbarians. 
He  said  it  to  old  Neighbour  Case's  face,  and  he 
and  the  old  man  came  together  like  a  pair  of 
hens,  for  Jonesy  had  sand  in  spite  of  his  faults. 
That  was  a  fight  worth  travelling  to  see. 
They  covered  at  least  an  acre  of  ground;  they 
tore  the  air  with  upper  swats  and  cross  swipes; 
they  hollered,  they  jumped  and  they  pitched, 
and  when  the  difficulty  was  adjusted  we  found 
that  Jonesy's  coat  was  painfully  ripped  up  the 
back  and  Neighbour  Case  had  lost  his  false 
teeth.  One  crowd  of  fellers  patted  Jones 
on  the  back  and  said,  '  Never  mind  your  coat, 
old  horse;  you've  licked  a  man  twice  your 
age,'  and  the  other  comforted  Neighbour,  say 
ing,  *  Never  mind,  Case;  you  can  ease  your 
mind  by  thinking  how  you  headed  up  that 
rooster,  and  he  fifty  pounds  lighter  than  you/ 
"  Jonesy  put  on  airs  after  that.  He  felt  he 
was  a  hard  citizen.  And  then  he  had  the  mis 
fortune  to  speak  harshly  to  Arizona  Jenkins 
when  Old  Dry  Belt  was  in  liquor.  Then  he 
got  roped  and  dragged  through  the  slough. 


A  Red-Haired  Cupid       21 

He  cried  like  a  baby  whilst  I  helped  him  scrape 
the  mud  off,  but  not  because  he  was  scared! 
No,  sir !  That  little  runt  was  full  of  blood  and 
murder. 

"  '  You  mark  me,  now,  Red/  says  he,  the 
tears  making  bad-land  water  courses  through 
the  mud  on  his  cheeks,  '  I  shall  fire  upon  that 
man  the  first  time  I  see  him — will  you  lend  me 
your  revolver?  ' 

" '  Lord,  Jones,  see  here/  says  I,  '  don't 
you  go  making  any  such  billy-goat  play  as 
that — keep  his  wages  until  he  apologizes;  put 
something  harmful  in  his  grub;  but,  as  you 
have  respect  for  the  Almighty's  handiwork  as 
represented  by  your  person,  don't  pull  a  gun 
on  Arizona  Jenkins — that's  the  one  thing  he 
won't  take  from  nobody.' 

"  '  D-d-darn  him ! '  snivels  Jonesy,  '  I  ain't 
afraid  o-o-of  him; '  and  the  strange  fact  is  that 
he  wasn't.  Well,  I  saw  he  was  in  such  a  tak 
ing  that  he  might  do  something  foolish  and 
get  hurt,  so  I  goes  to  Arizona  and  says  I,  '  You 
ought  to  apologize  to  Jones.'  What  Zony  re 
plied  ain't  worth  repeating — '  and  you  along 
with  him/  he  winds  up. 

"  *  Now  ain't  that  childish?  '  I  says.    '  A  six- 


22  Red  Saunders 

footer  like  you  that  can  shoot  straight  with 
either  hand,  and  yet  ain't  got  generosity 
enough  to  ease  the  feelings  of  a  poor  little 
devil  that's  fair  busting  with  shame.' 

"  '  Well,  what  did  he  want  to  tell  me  to  shut 
up  my  mouth  for? '  cried  Old  Dry  Belt.  '  Men 
have  died  of  less  than  that/ 

" '  Aw,  shucks,  Zony/  I  says,  '  a  great,  big 
man  like  you  oughtn't  to  come  down  on  a  little 
cuss  who's  all  thumb-hand-side  and  left  feet.' 

"  '  That  be  blowed,'  says  he — only  he  says 
it  different.  '  I'd  like  to  know  what  business 
such  a  sawed-off  has  to  come  and  tell  a  full- 
grown  man  like  me  to  shut  up  his  mouth? 
He'd  ought  to  stay  in  a  little  man's  place  and 
talk  sassy  to  people  his  own  size.  When  he 
comes  shooting  off  his  bazoo  to  a  man  that 
could  swaller  him  whole  without  loosening 
his  collar,  it's  impidence;  that's  what  it  is.' 

"  '  Well,  as  a  favour  to  me?  '  I  says. 

"  *  Well,  if  you  put  it  in  that  way — I  don't 
want  to  be  small  about  it.' 

"  So  Arizona  goes  up  to  Jones  and  sticks 
out  his  hand.  '  There's  my  hand,  Jones/  he 
says.  '  I'm  mighty  sorry  you  told  me  to  shut 
up  my  mouth/  says  he. 


A   Red-Haired   Cupid       23 

"  '  So  am  I,'  says  Jones  heartily,  not  taking 
in  the  sense  of  the  words,  but  feeling  that  it 
was  all  in  good  intention.  So  that  was  all  right 
and  I  stood  in  with  the  management  in  great 
shape  for  fixing  up  the  fuss  so  pleasant.  But 
it  didn't  last.  They  say  nothing  lasts  in  this 
world.  There's  some  pretty  solid  rocks  in  the 
Coeur  d'Alene,  however,  and  I  should  like  to 
wait  around  and  see  if  they  don't  hold  out, 
but  I'll  never  make  it.  I've  been  in  too  much 
excitement. 

"  Well,  the  next  thing  after  Jonesy  got 
established  was  that  his  niece  must  come  out 
during  vacation  and  pay  him  a  visit.  '  Jee- 
rusalem ! '  thinks  I,  '  Jonesy's  niece ! '  I  had 
visions  of  a  thin,  yaller,  sour  little  piece,  with 
mouse-coloured  hair  plastered  down  on  her 
head,  and  an  unkind  word  for  even-body. 
Jonesy  told  me  about  her  being  in  college,  and 
then  I  stuck  a  pair  of  them  nose-grabber 
specks  on  the  picture.  I  can  stand  'most  any 
kind  of  a  man,  but  if  there's  anything  that 
makes  the  tears  come  to  my  eyes  it's  a  botch 
of  a  woman.  I  know  they  may  have  good 
qualities  and  all  that,  but  I  don't  like  'em,  and 
that's  the  whole  of  it.  We  gave  three  loud 


24  Red  Saunders 

groans  when  we  got  the  news  in  the  bull-pen. 
And  I  cussed  for  ten  minutes  straight,  with 
out  repeating  myself  once,  when  it  so  fell  out 
that  the  members  of  the  board  rolled  out  our 
way  the  day  the  girl  had  to  be  sent  for,  and 
Jonesy  couldn't  break  loose,  and  your  Uncle 
was  elected  to  take  the  buckboard  and  drive 
twenty  miles  to  the  railroad.  I  didn't  mind 
the  going  out,  but  that  twenty  miles  back 
with  Jonesy's  niece!  Say,  I  foamed  like  a 
soda-water  bottle  when  I  got  into  the  bull 
pen  and  told  the  boys  my  luck. 

"  '  Well/  says  Kyle  Lambert,  '  that's  what 
you  might  expect;  your  sins  have  found  you 
out/ 

"'No,  they  ain't;  they've  caught  me  at 
home  as  usual/  says  I.  '  Well,  I'll  give  that 
Eastern  blossom  an  idea  of  the  quality  of  this 
country  anyhow.'  So  I  togs  myself  up  in  the 
awfullest  rig  I  could  find;  strapped  two  ca'- 
tridge  belts  to  me,  every  hole  filled,  and  a  gun 
in  every  holster;  put  candle-grease  on  my  mus 
tache  and  twisted  the  ends  up  to  my  eye-wink 
ers;  stuck  a  knife  in  my  hatband  and  another 
in  my  boot;  threw  a  shotgun  and  a  rifle  in 
the  buckboard,  and  pulled  out  quick  through 


A  Red-Haired   Cupid       25 

the  colt-pens  before  Jonesy  could  get  his  peeps 
onto  me. 

"  Well,  sir,  I  was  jarred  witless  when  I  laid 
my  eyes  on  that  young  woman.  I'd  had  my 
mind  made  up  so  thorough  as  to  what  she 
must  be  tha^  the  facts  knocked  me  cold.  She 
was  the  sweetest,  handsomest,  healthiest  fe 
male  I  ever  see.  It  would  make  you  believe  in 
fairy  stories  again  just  to  look  at  her.  She 
was  all  the  things  a  man  ever  wanted  in  this 
world  rolled  up  in  a  prize  package.  Tall,  round 
and  soople,  limber  and  springy  in  her  action 
as  a  thoroughbred,  and  with  something  mod 
est  yet  kind  of  daring  in  her  face  that  would 
remind  you  of  a  good,  honest  boy.  Red, 
white,  and  black  were  the  colours  she  flew. 
Hair  and  eyes  black,  cheeks  and  lips  red,  and 
the  rest  of  her  white.  Now,  there's  a  pile  of 
difference  in  them  colours;  when  you  say 
'  red,'  for  instance,  you  ain't  cleaned  up  the 
subject  by  a  sight.  My  top-knot's  red,  but 
that  wasn't  the  colour  of  Loy's  cheeks.  No; 
that  was  a  colour  I  never  saw  before  nor  since. 
A  rose  would  look  like  a  tomater  alongside  of 
'em.  Then,  too,  I've  seen  black  eyes  so  hard 
and  shiny  you  could  cut  glass  with  'em.  And 


26  Red  Saunders 

again  that  wasn't  her  style.  The  only  way  you 
could  get  a  notion  of  what  them  eyes  were  like 
would  be  to  look  at  'em;  you'd  remember  'em 
all  right  if  you  did.  Seems  like  the  good  Lord 
was  kind  of  careless  when  he  built  Jonesy,  but 
when  he  turned  that  girl  out  he  played  square 
with  the  fambly. 

"  I  ain't  what  you  might  call  a  man  that's 
easily  disturbed  in  his  mind,  but  I  know  I  says 
to  myself  that  first  day,  '  If  I  was  ten  year 
younger,  young  lady,  they'd  never  lug  you 
back  East  again.'  Gee,  man !  There  was  a  time 
when  I'd  have  pulled  the  country  up  by  the 
roots  but  I'd  have  had  that  girl!  I  notice  I 
don't  fall  in  love  so  violent  as  the  years  roll  on. 
I  can  squint  my  eye  over  the  cards  now  and 
say, '  Yes,  that's  a  beautiful  hand,  but  I  reckon 
I'd  better  stay  out,'  and  lay  'em  down  without 
a  sigh ;  whereas,  when  I  was  a  young  feller,  if  I 
had  three  aces  in  sight  I'd  raise  the  rest  of  the 
gathering  right  out  of  their  foot-leather — or 
get  caught  at  it.  Usually  I  got  caught  at  it, 
for  a  man  couldn't  run  the  mint  long  with  the 
kind  of  luck  I  have. 

"  Well,  I  was  plumb  disgusted  with  the  fool 
way  I'd  rigged  myself  up,  but,  fortunately  for 


A   Red-Haired  Cupid       27 

me,  Darragh,  the  station-man,  came  out  with 
the  girl.  '  There's  Reddy,  from  your  ranch 
now,  ma'am/  says  he,  and  when  he  caught 
sight  of  me,  '  What's  the  matter,  Red;  are  the 
Injuns  up? ' 

"  Darragh  was  a  serious  Irishman,  and  that's 
the  mournfullest  thing  on  top  of  the  globe; 
and  besides,  he  believed  anything  you'd  tell 
him.  There  ain't  any  George  Washington 
strain  in  my  stock,  so  I  proceeded  to  get  out 
of  trouble. 

"  '  They  ain't  up  exactly,'  says  I,  *  but  it 
looked  as  if  they  were  a  leetle  on  the  rise,  and 
being  as  I  had  a  lady  to  look  out  for,  I  thought 
I'd  play  safe.' 

"  The  colour  kind  of  went  out  of  the  girl's 
cheeks.  Eastern  folks  are  scandalous  afraid 
of  Injuns. 

"'  Perhaps  I'd  better  not  start?'  says  she. 

'  Don't  you  be  scart,  miss,'  says  Darragh. 

'  You're  all  right  as  long  as  you're  with  Red 

— he's  the  toughest  proposition  we've  got  in 

this  part  of  the  country.' 

"  '  I'm  obliged  to  you,  Darragh,'  says  I.  He 
meant  well,  but  hell's  full  of  them  people.  I'd 
have  given  a  month's  wages  for  one  lick  at  him. 


28  Red  Satmders 

Nice  reputation  to  give  me  before  that  girl! 
She  eyed  me  mighty  doubtful. 

"  I  stepped  up  to  her,  with  my  hat  in  my 
hand.  '  Miss  Andree/  says  I  (she  was  Jonesy's 
sister's  child),  '  if  you  come  along  with  me  I'll 
guarantee  you  a  safe  journey.  If  any  harm 
reaches  you  it  will  be  after  one  of  the  liveliest 
times  in  the  history  of  the  Territory.' 

"At  this  she  laughed.  'Very  well/  says 
she,  '  I'll  chance  it,  Mr.  Red/ 

'  His  name  ain't  Red/  puts  in  Darragh, 
solemn.  '  His  name's  Saunders.  We  call  him 
Red  becus  uf  his  hair/ 

"  '  I'm  sure  I  beg  your  pardon/  says  Miss 
Loys,  all  of  a  fluster. 

"  '  That's  all  right,  ma'am;  no  damage  done 
at  all/  says  I.  '  It's  useless  for  me  to  try  to 
conceal  the  fact  that  my  hair  is  a  little  on  the 
auburn.  You  mustn't  mind  what  Darragh 
says.  We've  had  a  good  deal  of  hot  weather 
lately  and  his  brains  have  gone  wrong.  Now 
hop  in  and  we'll  touch  the  breeze/  So  I  piled 
her  trunk  in  and  away  we  flew. 

"  Bud  and  Dandy  were  a  corking  little 
team.  They'd  run  the  whole  distance  from 
the  railway  to  the  ranch  if  you'd  let  'em — and 


A  Red-Haired  Cupid       29 

I  never  interfered.  A  straight  line  and  the 
keen  jump  hits  me  all  right  when  I'm  going 
some  place,  although  I  can  loaf  with  the  next 
man  on  occasion.  So  we  missed  most  of  the 
gulleys. 

"  The  ponies  were  snorting  and  pulling 
grass,  the  buckboard  bouncing  behind  'em 
like  a  rubber  ball,  and  we  were  crowding  into 
the  teeth  of  the  northwest  wind,  which  made 
it  seem  as  if  we  were  travelling  100  per  cent, 
better  than  a  Dutch  clock  would  show. 

"  *  Goodness  gracious ! '  says  the  girl,  '  do 
you  always  go  like  this  in  this  country?  And 
aren't  there  any  roads?  ' 

"'Why,  no/  says  I.  'Hike!'  and  I 
snapped  the  blacksnake  over  the  ponies'  ears, 
and  they  strung  themselves  out  like  a  brace  of 
coyotes,  nearly  pulling  the  buckboard  out 
from  under  us.  '  Sometimes  we  travel  like 
this,'  I  says.  And  as  for  roads,  I  despise  'em. 
You're  not  afraid,  are  you?  ' 

"  '  Indeed  I'm  not.  I  think  it's  glorious. 
Might  I  drive?' 

"  '  If  I  can  smoke,'  says  I,  '  then  you  can 
drive.'  I'd  heard  about  young  women  who'd 
been  brought  up  so  tender  that  tobacker 


30  Red  Saunders 

smoke  would  ruin  their  morals  or  something, 
and  I  kind  of  wondered  if  she  was  that  sort. 

"  '  That's  a  bargain/  says  she  prompt.  '  But 
how  you're  going  to  light  a  cigar  in  this  wind 
I  don't  see.' 

"  '  Cigarette,'  says  I.  '  And  if  you  would 
kindly  hold  my  hat  until  I  get  one  rolled  I'll 
take  it  kind  of  you.' 

" '  But  what  about  the  horses? '  says  she. 

"  '  Put  your  foot  on  the  lines  and  they'll 
make.  That's  the  main  and  only  art  of  driv 
ing  on  the  prairie — not  to  let  the  lines  get 
under  the  horses'  feet — all  the  rest  is  just  sit 
still  and  look  at  the  scenery.' 

"  She  held  my  hat  for  a  wind-break,  and  I 
got  my  paper  pipe  together.  And  then — not 
a  match.  I  searched  every  pocket.  Not  a 
lucifer.  That  is  more  of  what  I  got  for  being 
funny  and  changing  my  clothes.  And  then 
she  happened  to  think  of  a  box  she  had  for 
travelling,  and  fished  it  out  of  her  grip. 

"  l  Young  lady,'  I  says,  i  until  it  comes  to 
be  your  bad  luck — which  I  hope  won't  ever 
happen — to  be  very  much  in  love  with  a  man 
who  won't  play  back,  you'll  never  properly 
know  the  pangs  of  a  man  that's  got  all  the  ma- 


A  Red-Haired  Cupid       31 

terials  to  smoke  with  except  the  fire.  Now,  if 
I  have  a  chance  to  do  as  much  for  you  some 
time,  I'm  there.' 

"  She  laughed  and  crinkled  up  her  eyes  at 
me.  'All  right,  Mr.  Saunders.  When  that 
obdurate  man  disdains  me,  I'll  call  for  your 
help/ 

"  '  The  place  for  the  man  that  would  disdain 
you  is  an  asylum,'  says  I.  *  And  the  only  help 
I'd  give  you  would  be  to  put  him  there.'  She 
blushed  real  nice.  I  like  to  see  a  woman  blush. 
It's  a  trick  they  can't  learn. 

"  But  I  see  she  was  put  out  by  my  easy  talk, 
so  I  gave  her  a  pat  on  the  back  and  says, 
'  Don't  mind  me,  little  girl.  We  fellers  see  an 
eighteen-carat  woman  so  seldom  that  it  goes 
to  our  heads.  There  wasn't  no  offence  meant, 
and  you'll  be  foolish  if  you  put  it  there.  Let's 
shake  hands.' 

"  So  she  laughed  again  and  shook.  I  mean 
shook.  It  wasn't  like  handing  you  so  much 
cold  fish — the  way  some  women  shake  hands. 
And  Loys  and  me,  we  were  full  pards  from 
date. 

"  I  made  one  more  bad  break  on  the  home 
trip. 


32  Red  Saunders 

"  '  Jonesy  will  be  powerful  glad  to  see  you/ 
says  I. 

"  '  Jonesy ! '  says  she,  surprised.  '  Jonesy ! 
Oh,  is  that  what  you  call  Uncle  Albert? ' 

*  Well,  it  does  sometimes  happen  that 
way,"  says  I.  And  then  my  anti-George 
Washington  blood  rose  again.  '  You  see,  he 
was  kind  of  lonesome  out  there  at  first,  and 
we  took  to  calling  him  Jonesy  to  cheer  him  up 
and  make  him  feel  at  home,'  I  says. 

"  '  Oh ! '  says  she.  And  I  reckon  she  didn't 
feel  so  horribly  awful  about  it,  for  after 
looking  straight  towards  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
for  a  minute,  suddenly  she  bust  right  out  and 
hollered.  It  seems  that  Jones  cut  a  great  deal 
of  grass  to  a  swipe  when  he  was  back  home  in 
his  own  street.  It's  astonishing  how  little  of 
a  man  it  takes  to  do  that  in  the  East.  We  had 
an  argument  once  on  the  subject.  '  It's  intel 
lect  does  it/  says  Silver  Tompkins.  l  Oh, 
that's  it,  eh?  '  says  Wind-River  Smith.  '  Well, 
I'm  glad  I'm  not  troubled  that  way.  I'd 
rather  have  a  forty-four  chest  than  a  number 
eight  head  any  day  you  can  find  in  the  alma 
nac.'  And  I'm  with  Smithy.  This  knowing 
so  much  it  makes  you  sick  ain't  any  better 


A  Red-Haired  Cupid       33 

than  being  so  healthy  you  don't  know  noth 
ing,  besides  being  square  miles  less  fun.  An 
other  thing  about  the  Eastern  folks  is  they're 
so  sot  in  their  views,  and  it  don't  matter  to 
them  whether  the  facts  bear  out  their  idees  or 
not. 

"  i  Here,  take  a  cigar,'  says  one  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  to  me — a  little  fat  old  man,  who 
had  to  draw  in  his  breath  before  he  could  cross 
his  legs  —  *  them  cigarettes'll  ruin  your 
health,'  says  he.  Mind  you,  he  was  always 
kicking  and  roaring  about  his  liver  or  stum- 
mick,  or  some  of  his  works.  I'm  a  little  over 
six-foot-three  in  my  boots  when  I  stand  up 
straight,  and  I  stood  up  straight  as  the  Lord 
would  let  me  and  gazed  down  at  that  little 
man.  '  Pardner,'  says  I,  '  I  was  raised  on 
cigarettes.  When  I  was  two  years  old  I  used 
to  have  a  pull  at  the  bottle,  and  then  my  cigar 
ette  to  aid  digestion.  It  may  be  conceit  on  my 
part,'  I  says,  '  but  I'd  rather  be  a  wreck  like 
me  than  a  prize-fighter  like  you.'  They're 
queer;  you'd  think  that  that  little  fat  man 
would  have  noticed  the  difference  without  my 
pointing  it  out  to  him. 

"  Well,  I  don't  have  to  mention  that  Loys 


34  Red  Saunders 

stirred  things  up  considerable  around  the 
Chanta  Seechee  and  vicinity.  Gee!  What  a 
diving  into  wannegans  and  a  fetching  out  of 
good  clothes  there  was.  And  trading  of  use 
ful  coats  and  things  for  useless  but  decorating 
silk  handkerchers  and  things!  And  what  a 
hair  cutting  and  whisker  trimming! 

"  But  Kyle  was  the  man  from  the  go  in. 
And  it  was  right  it  should  be  so.  If  ever  two 
young  people  were  born  to  make  trouble  for 
each  other  it  was  Kyle  and  Loys. 

"  A  nice,  decent  fellow  was  Kyle.  Nothing 
remarkable,  you  could  say,  and  that  was  one 
of  his  best  points.  Howsomever,  he  had  a 
head  that  could  do  plain  thinking,  a  pair  of 
shoulders  that  discouraged  frivoling,  and  he 
was  as  square  a  piece  of  furniture  as  ever  came 
out  of  a  factory.  More'n  that;  he  had  quite  a 
little  education,  saved  his  money,  never  got 
more  than  good-natured  loaded,  and  he  could 
ride  anything  that  had  four  legs,  from  a  saw- 
horse  to  old  tiger  Buck,  who  would  kick  your 
both  feet  out  of  the  sturrups  and  reach  around 
and  bite  you  in  the  small  of  the  back  so  quick 
that  the  boys  would  be  pulling  his  front  hoofs 
out  of  your  frame  before  you'd  realize  that  the 


A  Red-Haired  Cupid       35 

canter  had  begun.  Nice  horse,  Buck.  He 
like  to  eat  Jonesy  up  one  morning  before  Sliver 
and  me  could  get  to  the  corral.  Lord !  The 
sounds  made  my  blood  run  cold !  Old  Buck 
squealing  like  a  boar-pig  in  a  wolf  trap,  and 
Jonesy  yelling,  '  Help !  Murder !  Police !' 
Even  that  did  not  cure  Jones  from  sticking  his 
nose  where  it  wasn't  wanted.  Why,  once — 
but  thunder !  It  would  take  me  a  long  while 
to  tell  you  all  that  happened  to  Jones. 

"  One  thing  that  didn't  hurt  Kyle  any  in 
the  campaign  was  that  he  was  'most  as  good- 
looking  for  a  man  as  she  was  for  a  woman. 
They  made  a  pair  to  draw  to,  I  tell  you,  lop 
ing  over  the  prairie,  full  of  health  and  young- 
ness!  You  wouldn't  want  to  see  a  prettier 
sight  than  they  made,  and  you  could  see  it  at 
any  time,  for  they  were  together  whenever  it 
was  possible.  Loys  was  so  happy  it  made  you 
feel  like  a  boy  again  to  see  her.  She  told  me 
in  private  that  it  was  wonderful  how  the  air 
out  here  agreed  with  her,  and  I  said  it  was 
considered  mighty  bracing,  and  never  let  on 
that  they  proclaimed  their  state  of  mind  every 
time  they  looked  at  each  other.  I  reckon  old 
smart-Aleck  Jonesy  was  the  only  party  in  the 


36  Red  Saunders 

township  who  didn't  understand.  Kyle  used 
to  put  vinegar  in  his  coffee  and  things  like 
that,  and  if  you'd  ask  him,  '  What's  that  fel 
low's  name  that  runs  the  clothing  store  in 
town?'  he'd  come  out  of  his  trance  and  say 
'  Yes,'  and  smile  very  amiable,  to  show  that  he 
thoroughly  admitted  you  were  right. 

"  Well,  things  went  as  smooth  and  easy  as 
bob-sledding  until  it  came  time  for  Loys  to 
be  moseying  back  to  college  again. 

"  Then  Kyle  took  me  into  his  confidence. 
I  never  was  less  astonished  in  my  whole  life, 
and  I  didn't  tell  him  so.  '  Well,  what  are  you 
going  to  do  about  it? '  says  I. 

"  He  kind  of  groaned  and  shook  his  head. 
'  I  dunno,'  says  he.  '  Do  you  think  she  likes 
me,  Red?'  I  felt  like  saying,  'Well,  if  you 
ain't  got  all  the  traits  but  the  long  ears,  I  miss 
my  guess,'  but  I  made  allowances,  and  says  I, 
1  Well,  about  that,  I  don't  think  I  ought  to  say 
anything;  still,  if  I  had  only  one  eye  left  I 
could  see  plain  that  her  education's  finished. 
She  don't  want  any  more  college,  that  girl 
don't.' 

"  '  Think  not?  '  says  he,  bracing  up.  And 
then,  by-and-by,  they  went  out  to  ride,  for 


A  Red-Haired  Cupid       37 

Jonesy  was  good  to  the  girl,  I'll  say  that  for 
him.  He  was  willing  to  do  anything  for  her 
in  reason,  according  to  his  views.  But  Kyle 
wasn't  in  them  views;  he  was  out  of  the  pict 
ure  as  far  as  husbands  went. 

"  They  came  back  at  sunset,  when  the 
whole  world  was  glowing  red  the  same  as  they 
were.  I  reached  for  the  field  glasses  and  took 
a  squint  at  them.  There  was  no  harm  in  that, 
for  they  were  well-behaved  young  folks.  One 
look  at  their  faces  was  enough.  There  were 
three  of  us  in  the  bull-pen — Bob,  and  Wind- 
River  Smith,  and  myself.  We'd  brought  up 
a  herd  of  calves  from  Nanley's  ranch,  and  we 
were  taking  it  easy.  '  Boys,'  says  I,  under  my 
breath,  '  they've  made  the  riffle.' 

"  '  No ! '  says  they,  and  then  everybody  had 
to  take  a  pull  at  the  glasses. 

"  '  Well,  I'm  glad,'  says  Smithy.  And  darn 
my  buttons  if  that  old  hardshell's  voice  didn't 
shake.  '  They're  two  of  as  nice  kids  as  you'd 
find  in  many  a  weary  day,'  says  he.  '  And  I 
wish  'em  all  the  luck  in  the  world.' 

"  '  So  do  I,'  says  I,  '  and  I  really  think  the 
best  we  could  do  for  'em  would  be  to  shoot 
Jones/ 


38  Red  Saunders 

"  '  Man !  Won't  he  sizz ! '  says  Bob.  And 
you  can't  blame  us  old  codgers  if  we  had  a 
laugh  at  that,  although  it  was  such  a  powerful 
serious  matter  to  the  youngsters. 

'  Let's  go  out  and  meet  'em/  says  I.  And 
away  we  went.  They  weren't  a  particle  sur 
prised.  I  suppose  they  thought  the  whole 
universe  had  stopped  to  look  on.  We  pump- 
handled  away  and  laughed,  and  Loys  she 
laughed  kind  of  teary,  and  Kyle  he  looked  red 
in  the  face  and  proud  and  happy  and  ashamed 
of  himself,  and  we  all  felt  loosened  up  con 
siderable,  but  I  told  him  on  the  quiet,  '  Take 
that  fool  grin  off  your  face,  unless  you  want 
Uncle  Jones  to  drop  the  moment  he  sees 
you/ 

"  Now  they  only  had  three  days  left  to 
get  an  action  on  them,  as  that  was  the  time 
set  for  Loys  to  go  back  to  college. 

"  Next  day  they  held  a  council  behind  the 
big  barn,  and  they  called  in  Uncle  Red — 
otherwise  known  as  Big  Red  Saunders,  or 
Chanta  Seechee  Red,  which  means  i  Bad- 
heart  Red  '  in  Sioux  language,  and  doesn't  ex 
plain  me  by  a  durn  sight — to  get  the  benefit  of 
his  valuable  advice. 


A  Red-Haired   Cupid       39 

"  '  Skip/'  says  I.  '  Fly  for  town  and  get 
married,  and  come  back  and  tell  Jonesy  about 
it.  It's  a  pesky  sight  stronger  argument  to 
tell  him  what  you  have  done  than  what  you're 
going  to  do.' 

"  They  couldn't  quite  agree  with  that. 
They  thought  it  was  sneaky. 

"  '  So  it  is,'  says  I.  '  The  first  art  of  war 
is  understanding  how  to  make  a  grand  sneak. 
If  you  don't  want  to  take  my  advice  you  can 
wait.'  That  didn't  hit  'em  just  right  either. 

"  '  What  will  we  wait  for? '  says  Kyle. 

"  '  Exercise — and  the  kind  you  won't  take 
when  you  get  as  old  and  as  sensible  as  me. 
You're  taking  long  chances,  both  of  you;  but 
it's  just  like  playing  cards,  you  might  as  well 
put  all  your  money  on  the  first  turn,  win  or 
lose,  as  to  try  and  play  system.  Systems  don't 
work  in  faro,  nor  love  affairs,  nor  any  other 
game  of  chance.  Be  gone.  Put  your  marker 
on  the  grand  raffle.  In  other  words  take  the 
first  horse  to  town  and  get  married.  Ten 
chances  to  one  Jonesy  will  have  the  laugh  on 
you  before  the  year  is  out.' 

'  I  don't  think  you  are  a  bit  nice  to-day, 
Red,'  says  Loys. 


40  Red  Saunders 

"  '  He's  jealous/  says  Kyle. 

1  That's  what  I  am,  young  man/  says  I. 
'  If  I  had  ten  years  off  my  shoulders,  and  a 
little  of  the  glow  off  my  hair,  I'd  give  you  a 
run  for  your  alley  that  would  leave  you 
breathless  at  the  wind-up/ 

"  *  I  think  your  hair  is  a  beautiful  color, 
Red/  says  Loys.  *  Many  a  woman  would  like 
to  have  it.' 

" '  Of  course  they  would/  I  answered. 
*  But  they  don't  get  it.  I'm  foxy,  I  am/  Still 
I  was  touched  in  a  tender  spot.  That  young 
woman  knew  just  the  right  thing  to  say,  by 
nature.  '  Well,  what  are  you  young  folks  go 
ing  to  do?  '  I  asked  them. 

"  They  decided  that  they'd  think  it  over 
until  next  day,  but  that  turned  out  to  be  too 
late,  for  what  must  Kyle  do  but  get  chucked 
from  his  horse  and  have  his  leg  broke  near  the 
hip.  You  don't  want  to  take  any  love  affairs 
onto  the  back  of  a  bad  horse,  now  you  mark 
me!  There  was  no  such  thing  as  downing 
that  boy  when  he  was  in  his  right  mind. 

"  Now  here  was  a  hurrah !  Loys,  she  dasn't 
cry,  for  fear  of  uncle,  and  Kyle,  he  used  the 
sinfullest  language  known  to  the  tongue  of 


A   Red-Haired  Cupid       41 

man.  'Twas  the  first  time  I'd  ever  heard  him 
say  anything  much,  but  he  made  it  clear  that 
it  wasn't  because  he  couldn't. 

"  '  What  will  we  do,  Red?  What  will  we 
do? '  says  he. 

"  '  Now,'  says  I,  '  don't  bile  over  like  that, 
because  it's  bad  for  your  leg.' 

"  He  cussed  the  leg. 

"  '  Go  on  and  tell  me  what  we  can  do,'  says 
he. 

"  '  When  you  ask  me  that,  you've  pulled 
the  right  bell,  says  I.  I'll  tell  you  exactly 
what  we'll  do.  I  go  for  the  doctor.  Savvy? 
Well,  I  bring  back  the  minister  at  the  same 
time.  Angevine,  he  loses  the  Jersey  cow  over 
in  the  cane-break,  and  uncle  and  Angevine  go 
hunting  her,  for  not  even  Loys  is  ace  high  in 
uncle's  mind  alongside  that  cow.  The  rest  is 
easy.' 

"  '  Red,  you're  a  brick — you're  the  best  fel 
low  alive/  says  Kyle,  nearly  squeezing  the 
hand  off  me. 

"  '  I've  tried  to  conceal  it  all  my  life,  but  I 
knew  it  would  be  discovered  some  day,'  says 
I.  '  Well,  I  suppose  I'd  better  break  the  news 
to  Loys — 'twouldn't  be  any  more  than  polite.' 


42  Red  Saunders 

"  '  Oh,  Lord !  I  wonder  if  she'll  be  will 
ing?  '  says  he. 

"  '  No  reason  I  shouldn't  turn  an  honest 
dollar  on  the  transaction — I'll  bet  you  a 
month's  wages  she  is,'  says  I.  He  wanted  to 
do  it,  thinking  I  was  in  earnest,  but  I  laughed 
at  him. 

"  She  was  willing  all  right — even  anxious. 
There's  some  women,  and  men,  too,  for  that 
matter,  who  go  through  life  like  a  cat  through 
a  back  alley,  not  caring  a  cuss  for  either  end 
or  the  middle.  They  would  have  been  content 
to  wait.  Not  so  Loys.  She  wanted  her  Kyle, 
her  poor  Kyle,  and  she  wanted  him  quick. 
That's  the  kind  of  people  for  me !  Your  cau 
tious  folk  are  all  the  time  falling  down  wells 
because  their  eyes  are  up  in  the  air,  keep 
ing  tabs  so  that  they  can  dodge  shooting 
stars. 

"  Now,  I  had  a  minister  friend  up  in  town, 
Father  Slade  by  name.  No,  he  was  not  a 
Catholic,  I  think.  They  called  him  '  Father  ' 
because  it  fitted  him.  His  church  had  a  steeple 
on  it,  anyhow,  so  it  was  no  maverick.  Just 
what  particular  kind  of  religion  the  old  man 
had  I  don't  know,  but  I  should  say  he  was  a 


A   Red-Haired  Cupid       43 

homeopath  on  a  guess.  He  looked  it.  'Twas 
a  comfort  to  see  him  coming  down  the  street, 
his  old  face  shining  in  his  white  hair  like  a 
shrivelled  pink  apple  in  a  snowdrift,  God-bless 
ing  everything  in  sight — good,  bad,  or  indif 
ferent.  He  had  something  pleasant  to  say  to 
all.  We  was  quite  friends,  and  every  once  in  a 
while  we'd  have  a  chin  about  things. 

"  '  Are  you  keeping  straight,  Red? '  he'd 
ask  when  we  parted. 

"  '  Urn,'  I'd  say,  '  I'm  afraid  you'd  notice 
a  bend  here  and  there,  if  you  slid  your  eyes 
along  the  edge.' 

"  '  Well,  keep  as  straight  as  you  can;  don't 
give  up  trying,  my  boy/  he'd  tell  me,  mighty 
earnest,  and  I'd  feel  ashamed  of  myself  clear 
around  the  corner. 

"  I  knew  the  old  man  would  do  me  a  fa 
vour  if  it  could  be  done,  so  I  pulled  out  easy  in 
my  mind. 

"  First  place,  I  stopped  at  the  doctor's,  be 
cause  I  felt  they  might  fix  up  the  marrying 
business  some  other  time,  but  if  a  leg  that's 
broke  in  the  upper  joint  ain't  set  right,  you  can 
see  a  large  dark-complected  hunk  of  trouble 
over  the  party's  left  shoulder  for  the  rest  of 


44  Red  Saunders 

his  days.  The  doctor  was  out,  so  I  left  word 
for  him  what  was  wanted,  and  to  be  ready 
when  I  got  back,  and  pulled  for  Father 
Slade's.  The  old  gentleman  had  the  rheuma 
tism,  and  he  groaned  when  I  come  in.  Rheu 
matism's  no  disease  for  people  who  can't 
swear. 

'  How  are  you,  my  boy? '  says  he;  '  I'm 
glad  to  see  you.  Here  am  I,  an  old  man, 
nipped  by  the  leg,  and  much  wanting  to  talk 
to  somebody.' 

"  I  passed  the  time  of  day  to  him,  but  felt 
kind  of  blue.  This  didn't  look  like  keeping 
my  word  with  the  kids.  I  really  hated  to  say 
anything  to  the  old  man,  knowing  his  disposi 
tion;  still  I  felt  I  had  to,  and  I  out  with  my 
story. 

"  '  Dear !  dear ! '  says  he.  '  The  hurry  and 
skurry  of  young  folks!  How  idle  it  seems 
when  you  get  fifty  years  away  from  it,  and  see 
how  little  anything  counts!  For  all  that,  I 
thank  God,'  says  he,  '  that  there's  a  little  red 
left  in  my  blood  yet,  which  makes  me  sympa 
thise  with  them.  But  the  girl's  people  object 
you  say? ' 

"  I  made  that  all  clear  to  him.    '  The  girl's 


A  Red-Haired  Cupid       45 

always  all  right,  Father/  says  I, '  and  as  for  the 
man  in  this  case,  my  word  for  him/ 

"  Now  it  ain't  just  the  right  thing  for  me  to 
say,  but  seeing  as  I've  never  had  anything  in 
particular  to  be  modest  about,  and  I'm  proud 
of  what  the  old  gentleman  told  me,  I'm  going 
to  repeat  it. 

"  '  Your  word  is  good  for  me,  Red,'  says  he. 
'  You're  a  mischievous  boy  at  times,  but  your 
heart  and  your  head  are  both  reliable;  give  me 
your  arm  to  the  waggon.' 

"  Then  I  felt  mighty  sorry  to  think  of  lug 
ging  that  poor  old  man  all  that  ways. 

"  '  Here ! '  says  I.  '  Now  you  sit  down 
again;  don't  you  do  anything  of  the  sort — you 
ain't  fit.' 

"  He  put  his  hand  on  my  shoulder  and  hob 
bled  his  weight  off  the  game  leg. 

" '  Reddy,  I  was  sitting  there  thinking 
when  you  came  in — thinking  of  how  comfort 
able  it  was  to  be  in  an  easy-chair  with  my  foot 
on  a  stool,  and  then  I  thought,  "  If  the  Lord 
should  send  me  some  work  to  do,  would  I 
be  willing?  "  Now,  thanks  be  to  Him!  I  am 
willing,  and  glad  to  find  myself  so,  and  I  do 
not  believe  there's  any  work  more  acceptable 


46  Red   Saunders 

to  Him  than  the  union  of  young  folk  who  love 
each  other.  Ouch ! '  says  he,  as  that  foot 
touched  the  ground.  '  Perhaps  you'd  better 
pick  me  up  and  carry  me  bodily/ 

"  So  I  did  it,  the  old  housekeeper  following 
us  with  an  armful  of  things  and  jawing  the 
both  of  us — him  for  a  fool  and  me  for  a  villain. 
She  was  a  strong-minded  old  lady,  and  I  wish 
I  could  remember  some  of  her  talk — it  was 
great. 

"  We  went  around  and  got  the  doctor. 

"  '  Hoo ! '  says  he.  '  Is  it  as  bad  as  that?  ' 
I  winked  at  Father  Slade. 

"'It's  a  plenty  worse  than  that/  says  I; 
'you  won't  know  the  half  of  it  till  you  get 
down  there.' 

"  But  of  course  we  had  to  tell  him,  and  he 
was  tickled.  Funny  what  an  interest  every 
body  takes  in  these  happenings.  He  wanted 
all  the  details. 

"  '  By  Jove ! '  says  he,  '  the  man  whose 
feelings  ain't  the  least  dimmed  by  a  broken 
leg — horse  rolled  on  him,  you  said?  Splin 
tered  it,  probably — that  man  is  one  of  the 
right  sort.  He'll  do  to  tie  to.' 

"When  we   reached   the  ranch    the   boys 


A   Red-Haired   Cupid       47 

were  lined  up  to  meet  us.  '  Hurry  along ! ' 
they  called.  '  Angey  can't  keep  uncle  amused 
all  day ! ' 

"  So  we  hustled.  Kyle  was  for  being  mar 
ried  first,  and  then  having  his  leg  set,  but  I  put 
my  foot  down  flat.  It  had  gone  long  enough 
now,  and  I  wasn't  going  to  have  him  Gripping 
it  all  his  life.  But  the  doctor  worked  like  a 
man  who  gets  paid  by  the  piece,  and  in  less 
than  no  time  we  were  able  to  call  Loys  in. 

"  Wind-River  Smith  spoke  to  get  to  give 
the  bride  away,  and  we  let  him  have  it. 

"  We'd  just  got  settled  to  business  when  in 
comes  Angevine.  puffing  like  a  buffalo.  '  For 
Heaven's  sakes!  Ain't  you  finished  yet?' 
says  he;  '  well,  you  want  to  be  at  it.  for  the  old 
man  ain't  over  two  minutes  behind  me,  com 
ing  fast.  I  took  the  distance  in  ten-foot  steps. 
Just  my  luck !  Foot  slipped  when  I  was  talk 
ing  to  him,  and  I  dropped  a  remark  that  made 
him  suspicious — I  wouldn't  have  done  it  for  a 
ton  of  money — but  it's  too  late  now.  I'll 
down  him  and  hold  him  out  there  if  you  say 
so/ 

"  Well,  sir,  at  this  old  Father  Slade  stood 
right  up,  forgetting  that  foot  entirely. 


48  Red  Saunders 

"  '  Children,  be  ready/  says  he,  and  he  went 
over  the  line  for  a  record. 

"  '  Hurry  there ! '  hollers  old  Bob  from  the 
outside,  where  he  was  on  watch;  '  here  comes 
uncle  up  the  long  coulee ! ' 

"  '  What  are  your  names? '  says  Father 
Slade.  They  told  him,  both  red'ning. 

"  '  Do  you,  Kyle,  take  this  woman,  Loys,  to 
have  and  keep  track  of,  come  hell  or  high 
water,  her  heirs  and  assigns  for  ever? ' — or 
such  a  matter — says  he,  all  in  one  breath, 
They  both  said  they  did. 

"  Things  flew  till  we  came  to  the  ring. 
There  was  a  hitch.  We  had  plumb  forgotten 
that  important  article.  For  a  minute  I  felt 
stingy;  then  I  cussed  myself  for  a  mean  old 
long-horn,  and  dived  into  my  box. 

"  '  Here,  take  this ! '  I  says.  '  It  was  my 
mother's! ' 

"  '  Oh,  Red !  You  mustn't  part  with  that ! ' 
cried  Loys,  her  eyes  filling  up. 

"  '  Don't  waste  time  talking;  I  put  through 
what  I  tackle.  Hurry,  please,  Father.' 

"  '  Has  anybody  any  objections  to  these 
proceedings? '  says  he. 

"  '  I  have,'  says  I,  '  but  I  won't  mention 
'em.  Give  them  the  verdict.' 


A  Red-Haired   Cupid       49 

" '  I  pronounce  you  man  and  wife.  Let  us 
pray/  says  he. 

"'What's  that?'  screeches  Uncle  Jonesy 
from  the  doorway.  And  then  he  gave  us  the 
queerest  prayer  you  ever  heard  in  your  life. 
He  stood  on  one  toe  and  clawed  chunks  out 
of  the  air  while  he  delivered  it. 

"  He  seemed  to  have  it  in  for  me  in  particu 
lar.  '  You  villain !  You  rascal !  You  red 
headed  rascal!  You  did  this!  I  know  you 
did!' 

"  '  Oh,  uncle ! '  says  I,  '  forgive  me ! '  With 
that  I  hugged  him  right  up  to  me,  and  he 
filled  my  bosom  full  of  smothered  language. 

"  '  Cheese  it,  you  little  cuss ! '  I  whispered 
in  his  ear,  '  or  I'll  break  every  rib  in  your  poor 
old  chest ! '  I  came  in  on  him  a  trifle,  just  to 
show  him  what  I  could  do  if  I  tried. 

"  '  'NufT ! '  he  wheezes.    '  Quit.    'NufiV 

"  *  Go  up  and  congratulate  'em/  I  whis 
pered  again. 

"  '  I  won't/  says  he.  '  Ouch !  Yes,  I  will! 
I  will ! '  So  up  he  goes,  grinding  his  teeth. 

"  '  I  wish  you  every  happiness/  he  grunts. 

"'Won't  you  forgive  me,  uncle?'  begs 
Loys. 


jo  Red  Saunders 

"  '  Some  other  time;  some  other  time! '  he 
hollers,  and  he  pranced  out  of  the  house  like  a 
hosstyle  spider,  the  maddest  little  man  in  the 
Territory. 

"  Loys  had  a  hard  time  of  it  until  Kyle  got 
so  he  could  travel,  and  they  went  up  to  the 
Yellowstone  with  a  team  for  a  wedding  trip. 

"  The  rest  of  Loys's  folks  was  in  an  un 
pleasant  frame  of  mind,  too.  They  sent  out 
her  brother,  and  while  I'd  have  took  most  any 
thing  from  Loys's  brother,  there  comes  a 
place  where  human  nature  is  human  nature, 
and  the  upshot  of  it  was  I  planked  that  young 
man  gently  but  firmly  across  my  knees.  Suf 
fering  Ike!  But  he  was  one  sassy  young 
man!  Howsomever,  the  whole  outfit  came 
round  in  time — all  except  uncle  and  me.  He 
used  to  grit  his  teeth  together  till  the  sparks 
flew  when  he  saw  me.  I  was  afraid  he'd  bust 
a  blood-vessel  in  one  of  them  fits,  so  I  quit.  I 
hated  to  let  go  of  the  old  ranch,  but  I'm  pretty 
well  fixed — I'm  superintendent  here.  It's 
Kyle's  ranch,  you  know.  That's  his  brand— 
the  queer-looking  thing  on  the  left  hip  of  that 
critter,  over  the  vented  hash-knife.  Loys's 
invention,  that  is.  She  says  it's  a  cherublim, 


A   Red-Haired  Cupid       51 

but  we  call  it  the  '  flying  flap-jack.'  There's 
a  right  smart  lot  of  beef  critters  toting  that 
signal  around  this  part  of  the  country.  Kyle's 
one  of  the  fellers  that  rises  like  a  setting  of 
bread — quiet  and  gentle,  but  steady  and  sure. 
He's  going  to  the  State  Legislature  next  year. 
'Twon't  do  no  harm  to  have  one  honest  man 
in  the  outfit. 

"  Now,  perhaps  if  I'd  married  some  nice 
woman  I  might  have  had  1,000  steers  of  my 
own,  and  a  chance  to  make  rules  and  regula 
tions  for  my  feller-citizens — and  then  again  I 
might  have  took  to  gambling  and  drinking 
and  raising  blazes,  and  broke  my  poor  wife's 
broom-handle  with  my  hard  head.  So  I  reck 
on  we'll  let  it  slide  as  it  is.  Now  you  straddle 
that  cayuse  of  yours  and  come  along  with  me 
and  I'll  show  you  some  rattling  colts." 


The   Golden   Ford 


The   Golden   Ford 

REDDY  was  on  the  station  platform, 
walking  up  and  down,  looking  about 
him  anxiously.  We  caught  sight  of 
each  other  at  the  same  time. 

"  Hi,  there !  "  said  he  and  jumped  for  me. 
"Gad-dog  your  little  hide!"  he  cried  as  he 
put  my  right  hand  in  line  for  a  pension.  "  I 
thought  I  was  booked  to  go  without  saying 
good-bye  to  you — you  got  the  note  I  pinned 
on  your  shack?  " 

"  Sure." 

"  Well,  there's  time  for  a  chin  before  the 
choo-choo  starts — thought  I'd  be  early,  not 
savvying  this  kind  of  travelling  a  great  deal. 
Darned  if  you  ain't  growed  since  I  saw  you — 
getting  fat,  too !  Well,  how's  everything?  I 
didn't  say  nothing  to  the  other  boys  about 
pulling  my  freight,  as  I  wanted  to  go  sober  for 
once.  You  explain  to  'em  that  old  Red's  head 
ain't  swelled,  will  you?  Seems  kind  of  dirty 
to  go  off  that  way,  but  I'm  bound  for  God's 
country  and  the  old-time  folks,  and  somehow 
55 


56  Red  Saunders 

I  feel  that  I  must  cut  the  budge  out  of  it. 
'Nother  thing  is  I'm  superstitious,  as  you  may 
or  may  not  have  noticed,  and  I  believe  if  you 
try  the  same  game  twicet  you'll  get  just  as 
different  results  as  can  be  the  second  time — 
you  heard  how  I  hit  it  in  the  mines,  didn't 
you?  No?  Well,  that's  so;  you  ain't  seen 
many  people  out  on  the  flat,  have  you?  Hum. 
I  don't  know  principally  where  to  begin.  You 
remember  Wind-River  Smith's  pardner  that 
the  boys  called  Shadder,  because  he  was  so 
thin?  Nice  feller,  always  willing  to  do  you  a 
favour,  or  say  something  comical  when  you 
least  expected  it — had  kind  of  a  style  with 
him,  too.  Yes,  sir,  that's  the  man.  Well  him 
and  me  was  out  in  the  Bend  one  day,  holding 
a  mess  of  Oregon  half-breeds  that  was  to  be 
shipped  by  train  shortly,  when  old  Smithy 
comes  with  the  mail.  '  Letter  for  you,  Shad 
der,'  says  Smith,  and  passes  over  a  big  enve 
lope  with  wads  of  sealing  wax  all  over  it. 
Shadder  reads  his  letter,  and  folds  it  up.  Then 
he  takes  a  look  over  the  countty — the  kind  of 
a  look  a  man  gives  when  he's  thinking  hard. 
Then  says  he,  '  Red,  take  off  your  hat/  I 
done  it.  '  Smithy,  take  off  your  hat.'  '  All 


The  Golden  Ford          57 

right/  says  Smith;  'but  you  tell  me  why,  or 
I'll  snake  the  shirt  off  you  to  square  things/ 

'"Boys/  says  Shadder,  'I'm  Lord  Wai- 
ford.' 

"  '  Lord  Hellford; '  hollers  Smithy.  '  You'd 
better  call  somebody  in  to  look  at  your  plumb 
ing — what  you  been  drinkin',  Shadder?  ' 

"  *  Read  for  yourself/  says  Shadder,  and  he 
handed  him  the  letter. 

"  Wish't  you  could  have  seen  old  Smithy's 
face  as  he  read  it !  He  thought  his  pardner 
had  been  cut  out  of  his  herd  for  ever. 

"  '  It's  the  God's  truth,  Red/  says  he  slowly, 
and  he  had  a  sideways  smile  on  his  face  as  he 
turned  to  Shadder.  '  Well,  sir/  says  he,  '  I 
suppose  congratulations  are  in  order?  ' 

"  Shadder's  hand  stopped  short  on  its  way 
to  the  cigarette,  and  he  looked  at  Smithy  as 
if  he  couldn't  believe  what  he  saw. 

"  '  To  hell  with  'em ! '  says  he,  as  savage  as 
a  wildcat,  and  he  jabbed  the  irons  in  and 
whirled  his  cayuse  about  on  one  toe,  heading 
for  the  ranch. 

'  Now  you  go  after  him,  you  jealous  old 
sore-head/  says  I.  'Go  on ! '  I  says,  as  he 
started  to  argue  the  point,  '  or  I'll  spread  your 


58  Red  Saunders 

nose  all  the  way  down  your  spinal  column!' 
The  only  time  to  say  '  no  '  to  me  is  when  I'm 
not  meaning  what  I  say,  so  away  goes  Wind- 
River,  and  they  made  it  up  all  right  in  no  time. 
Well,  Shadder  had  to  pull  for  England  to  take 
a  squint  at  the  ancestral  estates,  and  all  of  us 
was  right  here  at  this  station  to  see  him  off — 
Lord !  it  seems  as  if  that  happened  last  world ! 
— well,  it  took  a  little  bit  the  edge  off  any  and 
all  drunks  a  ranch  as  an  institution  had  ever 
seen  before.  There  was  old  Smithy  crying 
around,  wiping  his  eyes  on  his  sleeve,  and 
explaining  to  a  lot  of  Eastern  folks  that  it 
wasn't  Shadder's  fault — gad-hook  it  all!  He 
was  the  best,  hootin',  tootin'  son-of-a-sea- 
cook  that  ever  hit  a  prairie  breeze,  in  spite  of 
this  dum  foolishness. 

"  '  They  can't  make  no  "lord"  of  Shadder!' 
hollers  Smithy.  '  That  is,  not  for  long — he's 
a  man,  Shadder  is — ain't  cher,  yer  damned  old 
gangle-legged  hide-rack? ' 

"  And  Shadder  never  lost  his  patience  at 
all,  though  it  must  have  been  kind  of  trying 
to  be  made  into  such  a  holy  show  before  the 
kind  of  people  he  used  to  be  used  to.  All  he'd 
say  was  *  Bet  your  life,  old  boy ! '  Well,  it  was 


The  Golden  Ford          59 

right  enough  too,  as  Smithy  had  nursed  him 
through  small-pox  one  winter  up  in  the  Sho- 
shonee  country,  and  mighty  near  starved  him 
self  to  death  feeding  Shadder  out  of  the  slim 
grub  stock,  when  the  boy  was  on  the  mend; 
still  some  people  would  have  forgot  that. 

"  But  did  your  uncle  Red  get  under  the 
influence  of  strong  drink?  DID  he?  Oh  my! 
Oh  MY !  I  wish  I  could  make  it  clear  to  you. 
The  vigilantes  put  after  a  horse'  thief  once  in 
Montana,  and  they  landed  on  him  in  a  butt- 
end  canon,  and  there  was  all  the  stock  with 
the  brands  on  'em  as  big  as  a  patent  medicine 
sign,  as  the  lad  hadn't  had  time  to  stop  for 
alterations. 

"  '  Well,'  says  they,  '  what  have  you  got  to 
say  for  yourself?  '  He  looked  at  them  brands 
staring  him  in  the  face,  and  he  bit  off  a  small 
hunk  of  chewing  '  Ptt-chay ! '  Says  he, 
'  Gentlemen,  I'm  at  a  loss  for  words ! '  And 
they  let  him  go,  as  a  good  joke  is  worth  its 
price  in  any  man's  country.  I'm  in  that  lad's 
fix;  I  ain't  got  the  words  to  tell  you  how 
seriously  drunk  I  was  on  that  occasion.  I  re 
member  putting  for  what  I  thought  was  the 
hotel,  and  settling  down,  thinking  there  must 


60  Red  Saunders 

be  a  lulu  of  a  scrap  in  the  barroom  from  the 
noise;  then  somebody  gave  me  a  punch  in  the 
ribs  and  says,  i  Where's  your  ticket?  '  and  I 
don't  know  what  I  said  nor  what  he  said  after 
that,  but  it  must  have  been  all  right.  Then  it 
got  light  and  I  met  a  lot  of  good  friends  I 
never  saw  before  nor  since;  then  more  noise 
and  trouble  and  at  last  I  woke  up — in  a  hotel 
bedroom,  all  right,  but  not  the  one  I  was  used 
to.  I  went  to  the  window,  heaved  her  open 
and  looked  out.  It  was  a  bully  morning  and 
I  felt  Ai.  There  was  a  nice  range  of  moun 
tains  out  in  front  of  me  that  must  have  come 
up  during  the  night.  '  I'd  like  to  know  where 
I  am/  I  thinks.  *  But  somebody  will  tell  me 
before  long,  so  there  is  no  use  worrying 
about  that — the  main  point  is,  have  I  been 
touched? '  I  dug  down  into  my  jeans  and 
there  wasn't  a  thing  of  any  kind  to  remember 
me  by.  '  No/  I  says  to  myself,  '  I  ain't  been 
touched — I've  been  grabbed — they  might 
have  left  me  the  price  of  a  breakfast!  Well, 
it's  a  nice  looking  country,  anyhow ! '  So 
down  I  walks  to  the  office.  A  cheerful-seem 
ing  plump  kind  of  a  man  was  sitting  behind 
the  desk.  '  Hello ! '  says  he,  glancing  up  and 


The  Golden  Ford          61 

smiling  as  I  came  in.  '  How  do  you  open  up 
this  morning? ' 

"  *  Somebody  saved  me  the  trouble/  says 
I.  Tm  afraid  I'll  have  to  give  you  the  strong 
arm  for  breakfast.' 

"  He  grinned  wide.  '  Oh,  it  ain't  as  bad  as 
that,  I  hardly  reckon/  says  he.  He  dove  into 
a  safe  and  brought  out  a  cigar-box. 

"  *  When  a  gentleman's  in  the  condition 
you  was  in  last  night/  he  says,  '  I  always 
make  it  a  point  to  go  through  his  clothes  and 
take  out  anything  a  stranger  might  find  use 
ful,  trusting  that  there  won't  be  no  offence  the 
next  morning.  Here's  your  watch  and  the 
rest  of  your  valuables,  including  the  cash — 
count  your  money  and  see  if  it's  right/ 

"  Well,  sir !  I  was  one  happy  man,  and  I 
thanked  that  feller  as  I  thumbed  over  the  bills, 
but  when  I  got  up  to  a  hundred  and  seventy 
I  begun  to  feel  queer.  Looked  like  I'd  made 
good  money  on  the  trip. 

"  '  What's  the  matter? '  says  he,  seeing  my 
face.  *  Nothing  wrong,  I  hope ! ' 

"  '  Why,  the  watch  and  the  gun,  and  the 
other  things  is  all  right/  says  I.  '  But  I'm 
now  fifty  dollars  to  the  good,  even  figuring 


62  Red  Saunders 

that  I  didn't  spend  a  cent,  which  ain't  in  the 
least  likely,  and  here's  ten-dollar  bills  enough 
to  make  a  bed-spread  left  over/ 

"'Pshaw!'  says  he.  '  Blame  it!  I've 
mixed  your  plunder  up  with  the  mining 
gentleman  that  came  in  at  the  same  time. 
You  and  him  was  bound  to  fight  at  first,  and 
then  you  both  turned  to  to  lick  me,  and  what 
with  keeping  you  apart  and  holding  you  off, 
and  taking  your  valuables  away  from  you  all 
at  the  same  time,  and  me  all  alone  here  as  it 
was  the  night-man's  day-off,  I've  made  a 
blunder  of  it.  Just  take  your  change  out  of 
the  wad,  and  call  for  a  drink  on  me  when  you 
feel  like  it,  will  you? ' 

"  I  said  I  would  do  that,  and  moreover  that 
he  was  an  officer  and  a  gentleman,  and  that 
I'd  stay  at  his  hotel  two  weeks  at  least  to  show 
my  appreciation,  no  matter  where  it  was,  but  to 
satisfy  a  natural  curiosity,  I'd  like  to  know  what 
part  of  the  country  I  was  at  present  inhabiting. 

"  '  You're  at  Boise,  Idaho,'  says  he,  '  one 
of  the  best  little  towns  in  the  best  little  Terri 
tory  in  the  United  States  of  America,  includ 
ing  Alaska/ 

"'Well    .    .    .'  says  L     'Well    .    .    .' 


The  Golden  Ford          63 

for  again  I  was  at  a  loss  for  words.  I  had  no 
idea  I'd  gone  so  far  from  home.  '  I  believe 
what  you  say,'  says  I.  '  What  do  you  do 
around  these  parts? ' 

"  '  Mining/  says  he.  '  You're  just  in  time — 
big  strike  in  the  Bob-cat  district.  Poor  man's 
mining.  Placer,  and  durned  good  placer, 
right  on  the  top  of  the  ground.  The  mining 
gentleman  I  spoke  about  is  having  his  break 
fast  now.  Suppose  you  go  in  and  have  a  talk 
with  him?  Nice  man,  drunk  or  sober,  al 
though  excitable  when  he's  had  a  little  too 
much,  or  not  quite  enough.  He  might  put 
you  onto  a  good  thing.  I'm  not  a  mining 
person  myself.' 

"  '  Thanks,'  says  I,  and  in  I  went  to  the 
dining  room. 

There  was  a  great,  big,  fine-looking  man 
eating  his  ham  and  eggs  the  way  I  like  to  see 
a  man  eat  the  next  morning.  He  had  a  black 
beard  that  was  so  strong  it  fairly  jumped  out 
from  his  face. 

"  '  MorninY  says  I. 

"  '  Good  morning,  sir! '  says  he.  '  A  day  of 
commingled  lucent  clarity  and  vernal  soft 
ness,  ain't  it? ' 


64  Red  Saunders 

"  '  Well,  I  wouldn't  care  to  bet  on  that  with 
out  going  a  little  deeper  into  the  subject/ 
says  I ;  *  but  it  smells  good  at  least — so  does 
that  ham  and  eggs.  Mary,  I'll  take  the  same, 
with  coffee  extra  strong/ 

" '  You  have  doubtless  been  attracted  to 
our  small  but  growing  city  from  the  reports — 
which  are  happily  true — of  the  inexhaustible 
mineral  wealth  of  the  surrounding  region? ' 
says  he. 

"  *  No-o — not  exactly/  says  I;  'but  I  do 
want  to  hear  something  about  mines.  Mr. 
Hotel-man  out  there  (who's  a  gentleman  of 
the  old  school  if  ever  there  lived  one)  told 
me  that  you  might  put  me  on  to  a  good 
thing/ 

"  '  Precisely/  says  he.  '  Now,  sir,  my  name 
is  Jones — Agamemnon  G.  Jones — and  my 
pardner,  Mr.  H.  Smith,  is  on  a  business  trip, 
selling  shares  of  our  mine,  which  we  have 
called  "  The  Treasury  "  from  reasons  which 
we  can  make  obvious  to  any  investor.  The 
shares,  Mr. ' 

" '  Saunders  —  Red  Saunders  —  Chantay 
Seeche  Red/ 

"  *  Mr.   Saunders,   are   fifty   cents   apiece, 


The  Golden  Ford          65 

which  price  is  really  only  put  upon  them  to 
avoid  the  offensive  attitude  of  dealing  them 
out  as  charity.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  mine 
of  ours  contains  a  store  of  gold  which  would 
upset  the  commercial  world,  were  the  bare 
facts  of  its  extent  known.  There  is  neither 
sense  nor  amusement  in  confining  such  enor 
mous  treasure  in  the  hands  of  two  people. 
Consequently,  my  pardner  and  I  are  present 
ing  an  interest  to  the  public,  putting  the  nomi 
nal  figure  of  fifty  cents  a  share  upon  it,  to  save 
the  feelings  of  our  beneficiaries.' 

"  '  What  the  devil  do  I  care?  '  says  I.  '  I'm 
looking  for  a  chance  to  dig — could  you  tell 
a  man  where  to  go?  ' 

"  '  Oh ! '  says  he,  '  when  you  come  to  that, 
that's  different.  Strictly  speaking,  my  pard 
ner  Hy  hasn't  gone  off  on  a  business  trip.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  he  left  town  night  before  last 
with  two-thirds  of  the  money  we'd  pulled  out 
of  a  pocket  up  on  Silver  Creek,  in  the  com 
pany  of  two  half-breed  Injuns,  a  Chinaman, 
and  four  more  sons-of-guns  not  classified,  all 
in  such  a  state  of  beastly  intoxication  that 
their  purpose,  route,  and  destination  are 
matters  of  the  wildest  conjecture.  I've  been 


66  Red  Saunders 

laying  around  town  here  hating  myself  to 
death,  thinking  perhaps  I  could  sell  some 
shares  in  a  mine  that  we'll  find  yet,  if  we  have 
good  luck.  If  you  want  to  go  wild-catting 
over  the  hills  and  far  away,  I'm  your  huckle 
berry.' 

"'That  hits  me  all  right/  says  I.  'For 
what  I  don't  know  about  mining,  nobody 
don't  know.  When  do  we  start?  ' 

"  '  This,  or  any  other  minute/  says  he,  get 
ting  up  from  the  table. 

"  '  Wait  till  I  finish  up  these  eggs/  says  I. 
'  And  there's  a  matter  of  one  drink  coming  to 
me  outside — I  may  as  well  put  that  where  it 
won't  harm  any  one  else  before  we  start.' 

"  '  All  right ! '  says  he,  waving  his  hand. 
'  You'll  find  me  outside — at  your  pleasure, 
sir.' 

"  I  swallered  the  rest  of  my  breakfast  whole 
and  hustled  out  to  the  bar,  where  my  friend 
and  the  Hotel-man  was  waiting.  '  Now  I'll 
take  that  drink  that's  coming,  and  rather  than 
be  small  about  it,  I'll  buy  one  for  you  too,  and 
then  we're  off/  says  I. 

" '  You  won't  do  no  such  thing/  says  the 
Hotel-man.  '  It's  a  horse  on  me,  and  I'll  sup- 


The  Golden  Ford          67 

ply  the  liquor.  Mr.  Jones  is  in  the  play  as 
much  as  anybody/ 

"  So  the  Hotel-man  set  'em  up,  and  that 
made  one  drink.  Then  Jones  said  he'd  never 
let  a  drink  suffer  from  lonesomeness  yet  when 
he  had  the  price,  and  that  made  two  drinks. 
I  had  to  uphold  the  honour  of  the  ranch,  and 
that  made  three  drinks.  Hotel-man  said  it 
was  up-sticks  now,  and  he  meant  to  pay  his 
just  debts  like  an  honest  man,  and  that  made 
four  drinks,  then  Jones  said — well,  by  this 
time  I  see  I  needn't  have  hurried  breakfast  so 
much.  More  people  came  in.  I  woke  up  the 
next  morning  in  the  same  old  bedroom. 
Every  breakfast  Aggy  and  me  got  ready  to 
pull  for  the  mines,  and  every  morning  I  woke 
up  in  the  bedroom.  I  should  like  to  draw  a 
veil  over  the  next  two  weeks,  but  it  would 
have  to  be  a  pretty  strong  veil  to  hold  it.  I 
tried  to  keep  level  with  Aggy,  but  he'd  spend 
three  dollars  to  my  one,  and  the  consequence 
of  that  was  that  we  went  broke  within  fifteen 
minutes  of  each  other. 

"  Well,  sir,  we  were  a  mournful  pair  to  draw 
to  that  day.  We  sat  there  and  cussed  and  said, 
'  Now,  why  didn't  we  do  this,  that,  and  t'other 


68  Red  Saunders 

thing  instead  of  blowing  our  hard  earned 
dough?  ' — till  bimeby  we  just  dripped  melan 
choly,  you  might  say.  Howsomever,  we 
weren't  booked  for  a  dull  time  just  yet.  That 
afternoon  there  was  a  great  popping  of  whips 
like  an  Injun  skirmish  and  into  town  comes  a 
bull  train  half-a-mile  long.  Twelve  yoke  of 
bulls  to  the  team;  lead,  swing,  and  trail  wag 
gons  for  each,  as  big  as  houses  on  wheels. 
You  don't  see  the  like  of  that  in  this  country. 
Down  the  street  they  come,  the  dust  flying, 
whips  cracking  and  the  lads  hollering  '  Whoa 
haw,  Mary — up  there !  Wherp !  whoa  haw.J 

"  And  those  fellers  had  picked  up  dry 
throats,  walking  in  the  dust.  Also,  they  had  a 
month's  wages  aching  in  their  pockets.  We 
hadn't  much  mor'n  got  the  thump  of  their  ar 
rival  out  of  our  ears,  when  who  comes  roaring1 
into  town  but  the  Bengal  Tiger  gang,  and  they 
had  four  months'  wages.  Owner  of  the  mine 
got  on  a  bender  and  paid  everybody  off  by 
mistake.  You  can  hardly  imagine  how  this 
livened  up  things.  There  ain't  nobody  less 
likely  to  play  lame-duck  than  me,  but  there 
was  no  dodging  the  hospitality.  The  only 
idea  prevailing  was  to  be  rid  of  the  money  as 


The  Golden   Ford          69 

soon  as  possible.  The  effects  showed  right 
off.  You  could  hear  one  man  telling 
the  folks  for  their  own  good  that  he  was  the 
Old  Missouri  River,  and  when  he  felt  like 
swelling  his  banks,  it  was  time  for  parties  who 
couldn't  swim  to  hunt  the  high  ground;  whilst 
the  gentleman  on  the  next  corner  let  us  know 
that  he  was  a  locomotive  carrying  three  hun 
dred  pounds  of  steam  with  the  gauge  still 
climbing  and  the  blower  on.  When  he  whis 
tled  three  times,  he  said,  any  intelligent  man 
would  know  that  there  was  danger  around. 

"  Well,  sir,  I  put  the  Old  Missouri  River  to 
bed  that  night,  and  he'd  flattened  out  to  a  very 
small  streamlet  indeed,  while  the  locomotive 
went  lame  before  supper,  and  had  to  be  put 
in  the  round-house  by  a  couple  of  pushers. 
That's  the  way  with  fine  ideas.  Cold  facts 
comes  and  puts  a  crimp  in  them.  Once  I 
knew  a  small  feller  I  could  have  stuck  in  my 
pocket  and  forgot  about,  but  when  we  went 
out  and  took  several  prescriptions  together 
on  a  day,  he  spoke  to  me  like  this.  *  Red,'  says 
he,  '  put  your  little  hand  in  mine,  and  we'll 
go  and  take  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  Universe/ 
Astonishin'  idea,  wasn't  it?  And  him  not 


70  Red  Saunders 

weighing  over  a  hundred  pound.  Howsom- 
ever,  he  didn't  take  any  bird's-eye  view  of  the 
Universe — he  only  become  strikingly  indis 
posed. 

"  Well,  to  get  back  to  Boise,  you  never  in 
all  your  life  saw  so  many  men  and  brothers 
as  was  gathered  there  that  day,  and  old  Aggy, 
he  was  one  of  the  centres  of  attraction.  That 
big  voice  and  black  beard  was  always  where 
the  crowd  was  thickest,  and  the  wet  goods 
flowing  the  freest.  '  Gentlemen ! '  says  he, 
'  Let's  lift  up  our  voices  in  melody ! '  That 
was  one  of  Ag's  delusions — he  thought  he 
could  sing.  So  four  of  'em  got  on  top  of  a 
billiard  table  and  presented  '  Rocked  in  the 
Cradle  of  the  Deep  '  to  the  company,  which 
made  me  feel  glad  that  I  hadn't  been  brought 
up  that  way.  After  Ag  had  hip-locked  the 
last  low  note,  another  song-bird  volunteered. 

"  This  was  a  little  fat  Dutchman,  with  pale 
blue  eyes  and  a  mustache  like  two  streaks  of 
darning  cotton.  He  had  come  to  town  to  sell 
a  pair  of  beef-steers,  but  got  drawn  into  the 
general  hilarity,  and  now  he  didn't  care  a  cuss 
whether  he,  she,  or  it  ever  sold  another  steer. 
He  got  himself  on  end  and  sung  '  Leeb  Fad- 


The  Golden  Ford          71 

derlont  moxtrue  eckstein '  in  a  style  that 
made  you  wonder  that  the  human  nose  could 
stand  the  strain. 

"  '  Aw,  cheese  that ! '  says  a  feller  near  the 
door.  '  Come  get  your  steers,  one  of  'em's 
just  chased  the  barber  up  a  telegraph  pole ! ' 

"  So  then  we  all  piled  out  into  the  street  to 
see  the  steers.  Sure  enough,  there  was  the 
barber,  sitting  on  the  cross-piece,  and  the 
steer  pawing  dirt  underneath. 

"  '  He  done  made  me  come  a  fast  heat  from 
de  cohner,'  says  the  barber.  i  I  kep'  hollerin' 
"  next !  "  but  he  ain't  pay  no  Mention — he 
make  it  "  next  "  fur  me,  shuah !  Yah,  yah, 
yah !  You  gents  orter  seen  me  start  at  de 
bottom,  an*  slide  all  de  way  up  disyer  tele- 
graft  pole ! ' 

"  One  of  the  bull-whackers  went  out  to  rope 
the  steers,  and  Ag  gave  directions  from  the 
sidewalk.  He  wasn't  very  handy  with  a  riata, 
and  that's  a  fact,  but  the  way  Ag  lit  into  him 
was  scandalous.  When  he'd  missed  about  six 
casts  of  his  rope,  Ag  opened  up  on  him : 

"  '  Put  a  stamp  on  it  and  send  it  to  him  by 
mail,'  says  Aggy,  in  his  sourcastic  way.  '  Ad 
dress  it,  "  Bay  Steer,  middle  of  Main  St., 


72  Red  Saunders 

Boise,  Idaho.  If  not  delivered  within  ten 
days,  return  to  owner,  who  can  use  it  to  hang 
himself."  Blast  my  hide  if  I  couldn't  stand 
here  and  throw  a  box-car  nearer  to  the  critter ! 
Well,  well,  WELL !  How  many  left  hands 
have  you  got,  anyhow?  Do  it  up  in  a  wad  and 
heave  it  at  him  for  general  results — he  might 
get  tangled  in  it/ 

"  It  rattled  the  bull-whacker,  having  so 
much  attention  drawn  to  him,  and  he  stepped 
on  the  rope  and  twisted  himself  up  in  it  and 
was  flying  light  generally. 

"  '  Say ! '  says  Ag,  appealing  to  the  crowd, 
*  won't  some  kind  friend  who's  fond  of  puz 
zles  go  down  and  help  that  gentleman  do  him 
self?  ' 

"  That  made  the  whacker  mad.  He  was  as 
red  in  the  face  as  a  lobster. 

" '  You  come  down  and  show  what  you 
can  do/  says  he.  '  You've  got  gas  enough  for 
a  balloon  ascension,  but  that  may  be  all  there 
is  to  you/ 

"  '  Oh,  I  ain't  so  much/  says  Aggy,  '  al 
though  I'm  as  good  a  man  to-day  as  ever  I 
was  in  my  life — but  I  have  a  little  friend  here 
who  can  rope,  down,  and  ride  that  critter  from 


The  Golden   Ford          73 

here  to  the  brick-front  in  five  minutes  by  the 
watch;  and  if  you've  got  a  twenty-five  dollar 
bill  in  your  pocket,  or  its  equivalent  in  dust, 
you  can  observe  the  experiment.' 

"Til  go  you,  by  gosh!'  says  the  bull- 
whacker,  slapping  his  hat  on  the  ground  and 
digging  for  his  pile. 

"  '  Say,  if  you're  referring  to  me,  Ag,'  I  says, 
'  it's  kind  of  a  sudden  spring — I  ain't  what 
you  might  call  in  training,  and  that  steer  is 
full  of  triple-extract  of  giant  powder.' 

"  '  G'wan ! '  says  Ag.  '  You  can  do  it — and 
then  we're  twenty-five  ahead.' 

"  *  But  suppose  we  lose?  ' 

"  '  Well  ...  It  won't  be  such  an  aw 
ful  loss.' 

"  *  Now  you  look  here,  Agamemnon  G. 
Jones,'  says  I,  '  I  ain't  going  to  stand  for  put 
ting  up  a  summer  breeze  ag'in'  that  feller's 
good  dough — that's  a  skin  game,  to  speak  it 
pleasantly.' 

"  Then  Aggy  argues  the  case  with  me,  and 
when  Aggy  started  to  argue,  you  might  just 
as  well '  moo  '  and  chase  yourself  into  the  cor 
ral,  because  he'd  get  you,  sure.  Why,  that 
man  could  sit  in  the  cabin  and  make  roses 


74  Red  Saunders 

bloom  right  in  the  middle  of  the  floor;  whilst 
he  was  singing  his  little  song  you  could  see 
'em  and  smell  'em;  he  could  talk  a  snowbank 
off  a  high  divide  in  the  middle  of  February. 
Never  see  anybody  with  such  a  medicine 
tongue,  and  in  a  big  man  it  was  all  the  stran 
ger.  *  Now,'  he  winds  up, '  as  for  cheating  that 
feller,  you  ought  to  know  me  better,  Red — 
why,  I'll  give  him  my  note !  * 

"  So,  anyhow,  I  done  it.  Up  the  street  we 
went,  steer  bawling  and  buck-jumping,  my 
hair  a-flying,  and  me  as  busy  as  the  little  bee 
you  read  about  keeping  that  steer  underneath 
me,  'stead  of  on  top  of  me,  where  he'd  ruther 
be,  and  after  us  the  whole  town,  whoopin', 
yellin',  crackin'  off  six-shooters,  and  carryin' 
on  wild. 

"  Then  we  had  twenty-five  dollars  and  was 
as  good  as  anybody.  But  it  didn't  last  long. 
The  tin-horns  come  out  after  pay-day,  like 
hop-toads  after  a  rain.  'Twould  puzzle  the 
Government  at  Washington  to  know  where 
they  hang  out  in  the  meantime.  There  was 
one  lad  had  a  face  on  him  with  about  as  much 
expression  as  a  hotel  punkin  pie.  He  run  an 
arrow  game,  and  he  talked  right  straight  along 


The  Golden   Ford          75 

in  a  voice  that  had  no  more  bends  in  it  than 
a  billiard  cue. 

"  '  Here's  where  you  get  your  three  for  one 
any  child  may  do  it  no  chance  to  lose  make 
your  bets  while  the  arrow  of  fortune  swings 
all  gents  accommodated  in  amounts  from  two- 
bits  to  double-eagles  and  bets  paid  on  the 
nail/  says  he. 

"  '  Red/  says  Aggy,  *  I  can  double  our  pile 
right  here — let  me  have  the  money.  I  know 
this  game/  You'd  hardly  believe  it,  but  I  dug 
up.  '  Double-or-quits?  '  says  he  to  the  dealer. 

"  *  Let  her  go/  says  the  dealer;  the  arrow 
swung  around.  '  Quits/  says  the  dealer,  and 
raked  in  my  dough.  It  was  all  over  in  one 
second. 

"  I  grabbed  Aggy  by  the  shoulder  and 
took  him  in  the  corner  for  a  private  talk. 
*  I  thought  you  knew  this  game?  '  says  I. 

"  '  I  do/  says  he.  '  That's  the  way  it  always 
happens/  And  once  more  in  my  life  I  experi 
enced  the  peculiar  feeling  of  being  altogether 
at  a  loss  for  words. 

"  '  A£gy>'  saYs  I  at  last>  '  I've  §Tot  a  g°°d 
notion  to  lay  two  violent  hands  on  you,  and 
wind  you  up  like  an  eight-day  clock,  but  rather 


76  Red  Saunders 

than  make  hard  feelings  between  friends,  I'll 
refrain.  Besides  you  are  a  funny  cuss,  that's 
sure.  One  thing,  boy,  you  can  mark  down. 
We  leave  here  to-morrow  morning.' 

"  '  All  right,'  says  Ag.  '  This  sporting  life 
is  the  very  devil.  I  like  out  doors  as  well  as 
the  next  man,  when  I  get  there/ 

"  So  the  morrow  morning,  away  we  went. 
All  we  had  for  kit  was  the  picks,  shovels,  and 
pans;  the  rest  of  our  belongings  was  staying 
with  the  Hotel-man  until  we  made  a  rise. 

"  Ag  said  he'd  be  cussed  if  he'd  walk.  A 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  a  stroll  was  too 
many. 

"  '  But  we  ain't  got  a  cent  to  pay  the  stage 
fare,'  says  I. 

"  *  Borrow  it  of  Uncle  Hotel-keep,'  says  he. 

"  '  Not  by  a  town  site/  says  I.  '  We  owe 
him  all  we're  going  to,  at  this  very  minute — 
you'll  have  to  hoof  it,  that's  all/ 

"  '  I  tell  you  I  won't.  I  don't  like  to  have 
anybody  walk  on  my  feet,  not  even  myself. 
I  can  stand  off  that  stage  driver  so  easy,  that 
you'll  wonder  I  don't  take  it  up  as  a  profes 
sion.  Now,  don't  raise  any  more  objections — 
please  don't/  says  he.  '  I  can't  tell  you  how 


The  Golden  Ford          77 

nervous  you  make  me,  always  finding  some 
fault  with  everything  I  try  to  do.  That's  no 
way  for  a  hired  man  to  act,  let  alone  a  pard- 
ner.' 

"  So,  of  course,  he  got  the  best  of  me  as 
usual,  and  we  climbed  into  the  stage  when  she 
come  along.  Now,  our  bad  luck  seemed  to 
hold,  because  you  wouldn't  find  many  men  in 
that  country  who  wouldn't  stake  two  fellers 
to  a  waggon  ride  wherever  they  wanted  to  go, 
and  be  pleasant  about  it.  I'd  have  sure  seen 
that  the  man  got  paid,  even  if  Aggy  forgot  it, 
but  the  man  that  drove  us  was  the  surliest 
brute  that  ever  growled.  When  you'd  speak 
to  him,  he'd  say,  *  Unh  ' — a  style  of  thing 
that  didn't  go  well  in  that  part  of  the  country. 
I  kept  my  mouth  shut,  as  knowing  that  I 
didn't  have  the  come-up-with  weighed  on  my 
spirits;  but  Aggy  gave  him  the  jolly.  He  only 
meant  it  in  fun,  and  there  was  plenty  of  reason 
for  it,  too,  for  you  never  seen  such  a  game  of 
driving  as  that  feller  put  up  in  all  your  life. 
The  Lord  save  us!  He  cut  around  one  corner 
of  a  mountain,  so  that  for  the  longest  second 
I've  lived  through,  my  left  foot  hung  over 
about  a  thousand  feet  of  fresh  air.  I'd  have 


78  Red  Saunders 

had  time  to  write  my  will  before  I  touched 
bottom  if  we'd  gone  over.  I  don't  know  as  I 
turned  pale,  but  my  hair  ain't  been  of  the  same 
rosy  complexion  since. 

"  '  Well ! '  says  Aggy  in  a  surprised  tone  of 
voice  when  we  got  all  four  wheels  on  the 
ground  again.  '  Here  we  are ! '  says  he. 
'  Who'd  have  suspected  it?  I  thought  he  was 
going  to  take  the  short  cut  down  to  the  creek.' 

"The  driver  turned  round  with  one  corner  of 
his  lip  h'isted — a  dead  ringer  of  a  mean  man — 
Says  he  to  Aggy,  '  Yer  a  funny  bloke,  ain't 
yer?' 

"  '  Why ! '  says  Ag,  '  that's  for  you  to  say— - 
wouldn't  look  well  coming  from  me — but  if 
you  press  me,  I'll  admit  I  give  birth  to  a  little 
gem  now  and  then.' 

"  Our  bold  buck  puts  on  a  great  swagger. 
'  Well  yer  needn't  be  funny  in  this  waggon,' 
says  he.  '  The  pair  of  yer  spongin'  a  ride ! 
Yer  needn't  be  gay — yer  hear  me,  don't 
cher? ' 

"  '  Why,  I  hear  you  as  plain  as  though  you 
set  right  next  me,'  says  Ag.  l  Now,  you  listen 
and  see  if  I'm  audible  at  the  same  range — 
You're  a  blasted  chump ! '  he  roars,  in  a  tone 


The  Golden  Ford          79 

of  voice  that  would  have  carried  forty  mile. 
'  Did  you  hear  that,  Red? '  he  asks  very  inno 
cent.  I  was  so  hot  at  the  driver's  sass — the 
cussed  low-downness  of  doing  a  feller  a  favour 
and  then  heaving  it  at  him — that  you  could 
have  lit  a  match  on  me  anywheres,  but  to  save 
me  I  couldn't  help  laughing — Ag  had  the 
comicallest  way! 

"  At  that  the  driver  begins  to  larrup  the 
horses.  I  ain't  the  kind  to  feel  faint  when  a 
cayuse  gets  what's  coming  to  him  for  raising 
the  devil,  but  to  see  that  lad  whale  his  team 
because  there  wasn't  nothing  else  he  dared  hit, 
got  me  on  my  hind  legs.  I  nestled  one  hand 
in  his  hair  and  twisted  his  ugly  mug  back. 

"  '  Quit  that ! '  says  I. 

"  '  You  let  me  be — I  ain't  hurting  you,9  he 
hollers. 

"  '  That  ain't  to  say  I  won't  be  hurting  you 
soon/  says  I.  '  You  put  the  bud  on  them 
horses  again,  and  I'll  boot  the  spine  of  your 
back  up  through  the  top  of  your  head  till  it 
stands  out  like  a  flag-staff.  Just  one  more 
touch,  and  you  get  it ! '  says  I. 

"  He  didn't  open  his  mouth  again  till  we 
come  to  the  river.  Then  he  pulled  up.  '  This 


8o  Red  Saunders 

is  about  as  far  as  I  care  to  carry  you  two  gents 
for  nothinY  he  says.  '  Of  course  you're  two 
to  one,  and  I  can't  do  nothing  if  you  see  fit  to 
bull  the  thing  through.  But  I'll  say  this:  if 
either  one  or  both  of  you  roosters  has  got  the 
least  smell  of  a  gentleman  about  him,  he  won't 
have  to  be  told  his  company  ain't  wanted 
twice/ 

"  Now,  mind  you,  Ag  and  me  didn't  have 
the  first  cussed  thing — not  grub,  nor  blankets, 
nor  gun,  nor  nothing;  and  this  the  feller  well 
knew. 

'  Red/  says  Aggy,  '  what  do  you  say  to 
pulling  this  thing  apart  and  seeing  what 
makes  it  act  so? ' 

"  '  No/  says  I,  '  don't  touch  it — it  might 
be  catching.  Now,  you  whelp ! '  says  I  to  the 
driver,  '  you  tell  us  if  there's  a  place  where  we 
can  get  anything  to  eat  around  here?  '  We'd 
expected  to  go  hungry  until  we  hit  the  camp 
some  forty  mile  further  on,  where  we  knew 
there'd  be  plenty  for  anybody  that  wanted  it. 

"  '  Yes/  says  he;  '  there's  a  man  running  a 
shack  two  mile  up  the  river/ 

"  '  All  right/  says  I.  '  Drive  on.  You've 
played  us  as  dirty  a  trick  as  one  man  can  play 


The  Golden  Ford         81 

another.  If  we  ever  get  a  cinch  on  you,  you 
can  expect  we'll  pull  her  till  the  latigoes  snap/ 

"  He  kept  shut  till  he  got  across  the  river, 
where  he  felt  safe. 

"  '  It's  all  right  about  that  cinch ! '  he  hollers 
back,  grinning.  '  Only  wait  till  you  get  it,  yer 
suckers!  Sponges!  Beats!  Dead-heads! 
Yah!' 

"  Well,  a  man  can't  catch  a  team  of  horses, 
and  that's  all  there  is  about  it,  but  I  want  to 
tell  you  he  was  on  the  anxious  seat  for  a  quar 
ter  of  a  mile.  We  tried  hard. 

"  When  we  got  back  to  where  we  started 
and  could  breathe  again,  we  held  a  council  of 
war. 

"  '  Now  Aggy,'  says  I,  '  we're  dumped — 
what  shall  we  do? ' 

He  sat  there  awhile  looking  around  him, 
snapping  pebbles  with  his  thumb. 

"  '  Tell  you  what  it  is,  Red,'  he  says  at  last, 
'  we  might  as  well  go  mining  right  here.  This 
is  likely  gravel,  and  there's  a  river.  If  that  bar 
in  front  of  you  had  been  further  in  the  moun 
tains,  it  would  have  been  punched  full  of  holes. 
It's  only  because  it's  on  the  road  that  nobody's 
taken  the  trouble  to  see  what  was  in  it.  This 


82  Red  Saunders 

road  was  made  by  cattle  ranchers,  that  didn't 
know  nothing  about  mining,  and  every  miner 
that's  gone  over  the  trail  had  his  mouth  set  to 
get  further  along  as  quick  as  possible — just 
like  us.  Do  you  see  that  little  hollow  running 
down  to  the  river?  Well  you  try  your  luck 
there.  I  give  you  that  place  as  it's  the  most 
probable,  and  you  as  a  tenderfoot  in  the  busi 
ness  will  have  all  the  luck.  I'll  make  a  stab 
where  I  am/ 

"  Well,  sir,  it  sounds  queer  to  tell  it,  and  it 
seems  queerer  still  to  think  of  the  doing  of  it, 
but  I  hadn't  dug  two  feet  before  I  come  to 
bed  rock,  and  there  was  some  heavy  black 
chunks. 

"'Aggy,'  says  I,  'what's  these  things?' 
throwing  one  over  to  him.  He  caught  it  and 
stared  at  it. 

"  '  Where  did  you  get  that? '  says  he,  in  al 
most  a  whisper. 

"  '  Why,  out  of  the  hole,  of  course ! '  says  I, 
laughing.  '  Come  take  a  look ! ' 

"  Aggy  wasn't  the  kind  of  man  to  go  off 
the  handle  over  trifles,  but  when  he  looked 
into  that  hole  he  turned  perfectly  green.  His 
knees  give  out  from  under  him  and  he  sat  on 


The  Golden  Ford          83 

the  ground  like  a  man  in  a  trance,  wiping  the 
sweat  off  his  face  with  a  motion  like  a  machine. 

"  '  What  the  devil  ails  you? '  says  I  aston 
ished.  I  thought  maybe  Fd  done  something 
I  hadn't  ought  to  do,  through  ignorance  of 
the  rules  and  regulations  of  mining. 

"  '  Red/  says  he  dead  solemn,  '  I've  mined 
for  twenty  year,  and  from  Old  Mexico  to 
Alaska,  but  I  never  saw  anything  that  was  ace- 
high  to  that  before.  Gold  laying  loose  in 
chunks  on  top  of  the  bed-rock  is  too  much 
for  me — I  wish  Hy  could  see  this.' 

"'Gold!'  says  I.  'What  you  talking 
about?  What  have  those  black  hunks  to  do 
with  gold? ' 

"  The  only  answer  he  made  was  to  lay  the 
one  I  had  thrown  to  him  on  top  of  a  rock  and 
hit  her  a  crack  with  a  pick.  Then  he  handed 
it  to  me.  Sure  enough !  There  under  the 
black  was  the  yeller.  Of  course,  if  I'd  known 
more  about  the  business  I  could  have  told  it 
by  the  weight,  but  I'd  never  seen  a  piece  of 
gold  fresh  off  the  farm  before  in  my  life.  I 
hadn't  the  slightest  idea  what  it  looked  like, 
and  I  learned  afterward  it  all  looks  different. 
Some  of  it  shines  up  yaller  in  the  start;  some 


84  Red  Saunders 

of  it's  red,  and  some  is  like  ours,  coated  black 
with  iron-crust. 

"  So  I  looked  at  Ag,  and  Ag  looked  at  me, 
neither  one  of  us  believing  anything  at  all  for 
awhile.  I  simply  couldn't  get  hold  of  the 
thing — I  ain't  yet,  for  that  matter.  I  expect 
to  wake  up  and  find  it  a  pipe  dream,  and  in 
some  ways  I  wouldn't  mind  if  it  was.  I  never 
was  so  completely  two  men  as  I  was  on  that 
occasion.  One  of  'em  was  hopping  around 
and  hollering  with  Ag,  yelling  '  hooray ! '  and 
the  other  didn't  take  much  interest  in  the  pro 
ceedings  at  all.  And  it  wasn't  until  I  thought, 
'  Now  I  can  pay  that  cussed  cayote  of  a  stage 
driver  what  I  owe  him ! '  that  I  got  any  good 
out  of  it.  That  brought  it  home  to  me. 
When  I  spoke  to  Ag  about  paying  the  driver, 
he  says,  '  That's  so,'  then  he  takes  a  quick  look 
around.  '  We  can  pay  him  in  full,  too,  old 
horse ! '  he  hollers,  and  there  was  a  most  joyful 
smile  on  his  face. 

" '  Red,'  say  he,  '  do  you  know  this  is  the 
only  ford  on  the  river  for — I  don't  know  how 
many  miles — perhaps  the  whole  length  of 
her?' 

"  '  Well?  '  says  I. 


The  Golden   Ford          85 

" '  Our  little  placer  claim/  says  Aggy 
slowly,  rubbing  his  hands  together,  '  covers 
that  ford;  and  by  a  judicious  taking  up  of 
claims  for  various  uncles  and  brothers  and 
friends  of  ours  along  the  creek  on  the  low 
lands,  we  can  fix  it  so  they  can't  even  bridge 
it' 

"  '  Do  you  mean  they  can't  cross  our  claim 
if  we  say  they  can't?  ' 

"  '  Sure  thing ! '  says  Aggy.  '  There's  you 
and  me  and  the  law  to  say  "  no  "  to  that — I 
wish  I  had  a  gun.' 

"  '  You  don't  need  any  gun  for  that  skunk 
of  a  driver.' 

"  '  Of  course  not,  but  there'll  be  passengers, 
and  there's  no  telling  how  excited  them  pas 
sengers  will  be  when  they  find  they've  got  to 
go  over  the  hills  ford-hunting.' 

"  '  Are  you  going  to  send  'em  all  around, 
Ag?' 

"  l  The  whole  bunch.  Anybody  coming 
back  from  the  diggings  has  gold  in  his  clothes, 
so  it  won't  hurt  'em  none,  and  I  propose  to 
give  that  stage  line  an  advertising  that  won't 
do  it  a  bit  of  good.  Come  along,  Red;  let's 
see  that  lad  that  has  the  shack  up  the  river. 


86  Red  Saunders 

We  need  something  to  eat,  and  maybe  he's 
got  a  gun.  If  he's  a  decent  feller,  we'll  let  him 
in  on  a  claim.  Never  mind  about  the  hole! 
— it  won't  run  away,  and  there's  nobody  to 
touch  anything — come  on.' 

"  So  we  went  up  the  river.  The  man's 
name  was  White,  and  he  was  a  white  man  by 
nature,  too.  He  fed  us  well,  and  was  just  as 
hot  as  us  when  we  told  him  about  the  stage 
driver's  trick.  Then  we  told  him  about  the 
find  and  let  him  in. 

"  '  Now,'  says  Aggy,  '  have  you  got  a  gun?  ' 

"  '  I  have  that,9  says  the  man.  '  My  dad  used 
to  be  a  duck-hunter  on  Chesapeake  bay. 
When  you  say  "  gun,"  /'//  show  you  a  gun.' 
He  dove  in  under  his  bunk  and  fetched  out 
what  I  should  say  was  a  number  one  bore  shot 
gun,  with  barrels  six  foot  long. 

"  '  Gentlemen,'  says  he,  holding  the  gun  up 
and  patting  it  lovingly,  '  if  you  ram  a  quarter- 
pound  of  powder  in  each  one  of  them  barrels, 
and  a  handful  of  buck-shot  on  top  of  that, 
you've  got  an  argument  that  couldn't  be  upset 
by  the  Supreme  Court.  I'll  guarantee  that 
when  you  point  her  anywheres  within  ten  feet 
of  a  man  not  over  a  hundred  yards  away,  and 


The   Golden   Ford          87 

let  her  do  her  duty,  all  the  talent  that  that 
man's  fambly  could  employ  couldn't  gather 
enough  of  him  to  recognise  him  by,  and  you 
won't  be  in  bed  more'n  long  enough  to  heal 
a  busted  shoulder.' 

"  '  I  hope  it  ain't  going  to  be  my  painful  line 
of  performance  to  pull  the  trigger,'  says  Aggy. 
'  I  think  the  sight  of  her  would  have  weight 
with  most  people.  When's  the  stage  due 
back?  ' 

"  '  Day  after  to-morrow,  about  noon.' 

"  '  That  gives  us  lots  of  time  to  stake,  and 
to  salt  claims  that  can't  show  cause  their  own 
selves/  says  Aggy.  '  I  think  we're  all  right.' 

"  The  next  day  we  worked  like  the  Old 
Harry.  We  had  everything  fixed  up  right  by 
nightfall,  and  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  dig 
and  wait. 

"  Curious  folks  we  all  are,  ain't  we?  I 
should  have  said  my  own  self  that  if  I'd  found 
gold  by  the  bucketful,  I'd  be  more  interested 
in  that,  than  I  would  be  in  getting  even  with 
a  mut  that  had  done  me  dirt,  but  it  wasn't  so. 
Perhaps  it  was  because  I  hadn't  paid  much 
attention  to  money  all  my  life,  and  I  had  paid 
the  strictest  attention  to  the  way  other  people 


88  Red  Saunders 

used  me.  Living  where  there's  so  few  folks 
accounts  for  that,  I  suppose. 

"  Getting  even  on  our  esteemed  friend  the 
stage  driver  was  right  in  your  Uncle  Reddy's 
line,  and  Aggy  and  our  new  pard  White 
seemed  to  take  kindly  to  it,  also. 

"  If  ever  you  saw  three  faces  filled  with  in 
nocent  glee,  it  was  when  we  heard  the  wheels 
of  that  stage  coming — why,  the  night  before 
I  was  woke  up  by  somebody  laughing.  There 
was  Aggy  sound  asleep,  sitting  up  hugging 
himself  in  the  moonlight. 

"  '  Oh,  my !  Oh,  MY ! '  says  he.  '  It's  the 
only  ford  for  four  thousand  miles ! ' 

"  We  planted  a  sign  in  the  middle  of  the 
road  with  this  wording  on  it  in  big  letters, 
made  with  the  black  end  of  a  stick. 


NOTICE ! ! 

THIS  AND  ADJOINING  CLAIMS  ARE  THE 
PROPERTY  OF  AGAMEMNON  G.  JONES, 
RED  SAUNDERS,  JOHN  HENRY  WHITE, 
ET  AL. 

TRESPASSING  DONE  AT  YOUR  OWN 
RISK.  OWNERS  WILL  NOT  BE  RESPON 
SIBLE  FOR  THE  REMAINS. 


The  Golden  Ford          89 

"  There  was  a  stretch  of  about  a  mile  on  the 
level  before  us.  When  the  stage  come  in  plain 
sight  Aggy  proceeds  to  load  up  '  Old  Moral 
Suasion/  as  he  called  her,  so  that  the  folks 
could  see  there  was  no  attempt  at  deception. 
They  come  pretty  fairly  slow  after  that.  At 
fifty  yards,  Ag  hollers  '  Halt ! '  The  team  sat 
right  down  on  their  tails. 

"  '  Now,  Mr.  Snick'umfritz/  says  Aggy, 
6  you  that  drives,  I  mean,  come  here  and  read 
this  little  sign/ 

"  '  Suppose  I  don't? '  says  the  feller,  trying 
to  be  smart  before  the  passengers. 

"  '  It's  a  horrible  supposition/  says  Aggy, 
'  and  the  innocent  will  have  to  suffer  with  the 
guilty/  Then  he  cocks  the  gun. 

"  *  God  sakes !  Don't  shoot ! '  yells  one  of 
the  passengers.  '  Man,  you  ought  to  have 
more  sense  than  to  try  and  pick  him  out  of  a 
crowd  with  a  shot-gun !  Get  down  there,  you 
fool,  and  make  it  quick ! ' 

"  So  the  driver  walked  our  way,  and  read. 
He  never  said  a  word.  I  reckon  he  realized  it 
was  the  only  ford  for  four  thousand  miles,  more 
or  less,  just  as  Aggy  had  remarked.  There 
he  stood,  with  his  mouth  and  eyes  wide  open. 


go  Red  Saunders 

" '  I'd  like  to  have  you  other  gentlemen 
come  up  and  see  our  first  clean  up,  so  you 
won't  think  we're  running  in  a  windy/  says 
Aggy.  They  wanted  to  see  bad,  as  you  can 
imagine,  and  when  they  did  see  about  fifteen 
pound  of  gold  in  the  bottom  of  my  old  hat, 
they  talked  like  •  people  that  hadn't  had  a 
Christian  bringing  up. 

"  l  Oh  Lord ! '  groans  one  man.  *  Brigham 
Young  and  all  the  prophets  of  the  Mormon 
religion !  This  is  my  tenth  trip  over  this  line, 
and  me  and  Pete  Hendricks  played  a  game  of 
seven-up  right  on  the  spot  where  that  gent  hit 
her,  not  over  a  month  ago,  when  the  stage 
broke  down !  Somebody  just  make  a  guess  at 
the  way  I  feel  and  give  me  one  small  drink/ 
And  he  put  his  hand  to  his  head.  *  Say,  boys ! ' 
he  goes  on, '  you  don't  want  the  whole  blamed 
creek,  do  you  ?  Let  us  in ! ? 

"  '  How's  that,  fellers?  '  says  Ag  to  me  and 
White.  We  said  we  was  agreeable. 

"  '  All  right,  in  you  come ! '  says  Aggy. 
'  There  ain't  no  hog  about  our  firm — but  as 
for  you/  says  he,  walking  on  his  tip-toes  up 
to  the  driver,  '  as  for  you,  you  cock-eyed 
whelp,  around  you  go !  Around  you  go ! '  he 


The  Golden   Ford          91 

hollers,  jamming  the  end  of  Moral  Suasion 
into  the  driver's  trap.  '  Oh,  and  WON'T  you 
go  'round,  though ! '  says  he.  *  Listen  to  me, 
now :  if  any  one  of  your  ancestors  for  twenty- 
four  generations  back  had  ever  done  anything 
as  decent  as  robbing  a  hen-coop,  it  would  have 
conferred  a  kind  of  degree  of  nobility  upon 
him.  It  wouldn't  be  possible  to  find  an 
ornerier  cuss  than  you,  if  a  man  raked  all  hell 
with  a  fine-toothed  comb.  Now,  you  stare- 
coated,  mangey,  bandy-legged,  misbegotten, 
out-law  coyote,  fly ! — fly ! '  whoops  Aggy. 
jumping  four  foot  in  the  air,  '  before  I  squirt 
enough  lead  into  your  system  to  make  it  a 
paying  job  to  melt  you  down ! ' 

"  The  stage  driver  acted  according  to  or 
ders.  Three  wide  steps  and  he  was  in  the 
waggon,  and  with  one  screech  like  a  p'izened 
bob-cat,  he  fairly  lifted  the  cayuses  over  the 
first  ridge.  Nobody  never  saw  him  any  more, 
and  nobody  wanted  to. 

"  So  that's  the  way  I  hit  my  stake,  son,  just 
as  I'd  always  expected — by  not  knowing  what 
I  was  doing  any  part  of  the  time — and  now, 
there  comes  my  iron-horse  coughing  up  the 
track!  I'll  write  you  sure,  boy,  and  you  let 


92  Red  Saunders 

old  Reddy  know  what's  going  on — and  on 
your  life,  don't  forget  to  give  it  to  the  lads 
straight  why  I  sneaked  off  on  the  quiet !  I've 
got  ten  years  older  in  the  last  six  months. 
Well,  here  we  go  quite  fresh,  and  damned  if 
I  altogether  want  to,  neither — too  late  to 
argue  though — by-bye,  son !  " 


When   the   Chinook  Struck 
Fairfield 


When   the   Chinook   Struck 
Fairfield 


MISS  MATTIE  sat  on  her  little  front 
porch,      facing     the    setting     sun. 
Across  the   road,   now   ankle  deep 
in  June  dust,  was  the  wreck  of  the  Peters 
place :  back-broken  roof,  crumbling  chimneys., 
shutters  hanging  down  like  broken  wings,  the 
old  house   had  the   pathetic  appeal  of  ship 
wrecked  gentility.     A  house  without  people 
in  it,  even  when  it  is  in  repair,  is  as  forlorn  as 
a  dog  who  has  lost  his  master. 

Up  the  road  were  more  houses  of  the  non 
descript  village  pattern,  made  neither  for  com 
fort  nor  looks.  God  knows  why  they  built 
such  houses — perhaps  it  was  in  accordance 
with  the  old  Puritan  idea  that  any  kind  of 
physical  perfection  is  blasphemy.  Some  of 
these  were  kept  in  paint  and  window  glass, 
but  there  were  enough  poor  relations  to  spoil 
the  effect. 

95 


0  Red  Saunders 

Down  the  road,  between  the  arches  of  the 
weeping  willows,  came  first  the  brook,  with 
the  stone  bridge — this  broken  as  to  coping 
and  threadbare  in  general — then  on  the  hither 
side  of  the  way  some  three  or  four  neighbour's 
houses,  and  opposite,  the  blacksmith's  shop 
and  post-office,  the  latter,  of  course,  in  a  store, 
where  you  could  buy  anything  from  stale 
groceries  to  shingles. 

In  short,  Fairfield  was  an  Eastern  village 
whose  cause  had  departed.  A  community 
drained  of  the  male  principle,  leaving  only  a 
few  queer  men,  the  blacksmith,  and  some 
halfling  boys,  to  give  tone  to  the  background 
of  dozens  of  old  maids. 

An  unsympathetic  stranger  would  have  felt 
that  nothing  was  left  to  the  Fairfieldians  but 
memory,  and  the  sooner  they  lost  that,  the 
better. 

Take  a  wineglassful  of  raspberry  vinegar, 
two  tablespoonsful  of  sugar,  half  a  cup  each 
of  boneset  and  rhubarb,  a  good  full  cup  of  the 
milk  of  human  kindness,  dilute  in  a  gallon  of 
water,  and  you  have  the  flavor  of  Fairfield. 
There  was  just  enough  of  each  ingredient  to 
spoil  the  taste  of  all  the  rest. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  97 

Miss  Mattie  rested  her  elbow  on  the  railing, 
her  chin  in  her  hand,  and  gazed  thoughtfully 
about  her.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  she  was  the 
most  inspiring  thing  in  view.  At  a  distance 
of  fifty  yards  she  was  still  a  tall,  slender  girl. 
Her  body  retained  the  habit,  as  well  as  the 
lines  of  youth;  a  trick  of  gliding  into  unex 
pected,  pleasing  attitudes,  which  would  have 
been  awkward  but  for  the  suppleness  of  limb 
to  which  they  testified,  and  the  unconscious 
ness  and  ease  of  their  irregularity. 

Her  face  was  a  child's  face  in  the  ennobling 
sense  of  the  word.  The  record  of  the  years 
written  upon  it  seemed  a  masquerade — 
the  face  of  a  clear-eyed  girl  of  fourteen  made 
up  to  represent  her  own  aunt  at  a  fancy  dress 
party.  A  face  drawn  a  trifle  fine,  a  little  as 
cetic,  but  balanced  by  the  humour  of  the  large, 
shapely  mouth,  and  really  beautiful  in  bone 
and  contour.  The  beauty  of  mignonette,  and 
doves,  and  gentle  things. 

You  could  see  that  she  was  thirty-five,  in 
the  blatant  candor  of  noon,  but  now,  blushed 
with  the  pink  of  the  setting  sun,  she  was  still 
in  the  days  of  the  fairy  prince. 

Miss  Mattie's  revery  idled  over  the  year 


g8  Red  Saunders 

upon  year  of  respectable  stupidity  that  repre 
sented  life  in  Fairfield,  while  her  eyes  and  soul 
were  in  the  boiling  gold  of  the  sky-glory.  She 
sighed. 

A  panorama  of  life  minced  before  Miss 
Mattie's  mind  about  as  vivid  and  full  of  red 
corpuscles  as  a  Greek  frieze.  Her  affectionate 
nature  was  starved.  They  visited  each  other, 
the  ladies  of  Fairfield — these  women  who  had 
rolled  on  the  floor  together  as  babies — in  their 
best  black,  or  green  or  whatever  it  might  be, 
and  gloves!  This,  though  the  summer  sun 
might  be  hammering  down  with  all  his  might. 
And  then  they  sat  in  a  closed  room  and  talked 
in  a  reserved  fashion  which  was  entirely  the 
property  of  the  call.  Of  course,  one  could 
have  a  moment's  real  talk  by  chance  meeting, 
and  there  were  the  natural  griefs  of  life  to 
break  the  corsets  of  this  etiquette,  although 
in  general,  the  griefs  seemed  to  be  long  drawn 
out  and  conventional  affairs,  as  if  nature  her 
self  at  last  yielded  to  the  system,  conquered 
by  the  invincible  conventionality  and  stub 
bornness  of  the  ladies  of  Fairfield.  It  was  the 
unspoken  but  firm  belief  of  each  of  these 
women,  that  a  person  of  their  circle  who  had 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  99 

no  more  idea  of  respectability  than  to  drop 
dead  on  the  public  road  would  never  go  to 
Heaven. 

Poor  Miss  Mattie!  Small  wonder  she 
dropped  her  hands,  sat  back  and  wondered, 
with  another  sigh,  if  it  were  for  this  she  was 
born?  She  did  not  rebel — there  was  no  vio 
lence  in  her — but  she  regretted  exceedingly. 
In  spite  of  her  slenderness,  it  was  a  wride, 
mother-lap  in  which  her  hands  rested,  an  ob 
vious  cradle  for  little  children.  And  instinc 
tively  it  would  come  to  you  as  you  looked  at 
her,  that  there  could  be  no  more  comfortable 
place  for  a  tired  man  to  come  home  to,  than 
a  household  presided  over  by  this  slowr-mov- 
ing,  gentle  woman.  There  was  nothing  old- 
maidish  about  Miss  Mattie  but  the  tale  of  her 
years.  She  had  had  offers,  such  as  Fairfield  and 
vicinity  could  boast,  and  declined  them  with 
tact,  and  the  utmost  gratitude  to  the  suitor 
for  the  compliment;  but  her  "  no  "  though 
mild  was  firm,  for  there  lay  within  her  a  cer 
tain  quiet  valiant  spirit,  wrhich  would  rather 
endure  the  fatigue  and  loneliness  of  old  age 
in  her  little  house,  than  to  take  a  larger  life 
from  any  but  the  man  who  was  all.  A  com- 


ioo  Red  Saunders 

monplace  in  fiction;  in  real  life  sometimes 
quite  a  strain. 

The  sun  distorted  himself  into  a  Rugby  foot 
ball,  and  hurried  down  as  though  to  be 
through  with  Fairfield  as  soon  as  possible.  It 
was  a  most  magnificent  sun-set;  flaming, 
gorgeous,  wild — beyond  the  management  of 
the  women  of  Fairfield — and  Miss  Mattie 
stared  into  the  heart  of  it  with  a  longing  for 
something  to  happen.  Then  the  thought 
came,  "  What  could  happen? "  she  sighed 
again,  and,  with  eyes  blinded  by  Heaven- 
shine,  glanced  down  the  village  street. 

She  thought  she  saw — she  rubbed  her  eyes 
and  looked  again — she  did  see,  and  surely 
never  a  stranger  sight  was  beheld  on  Fair- 
field's  street!  Had  a  Royal  Bengal  tiger 
come  slouching  through  the  dust  it  could  not 
have  been  more  unusual.  The  spectacle  was 
a  man;  a  very  large  and  mighty  shouldered 
man,  who  looked  about  him  with  a  bold,  im 
perious,  keep-the-change  regard.  There  was 
something  in  the  swing  of  him  that  suggested 
the  Bengal  tiger.  He  wore  high-heeled  boots 
outside  of  his  trousers,  a  flannel  shirt  with  a 
yellow  silk  kerchief  around  his  neck,  and  on 


The  Chinook  Struck!  Fairfield  101 

his  head  sat  a  white  hac  which  seetrad'tp  Miss. 
Mattie  to  be  at  least  a  yard' In  diaftiefer. 
Under  the  hat  was  a  remarkable  head  of  hair. 
It  hung  below  the  man's  shoulders  in  a  silky 
mass  of  dark  scarlet,  flecked  with  bro\vn  gold. 
Miss  Mattie  had  seen  red  hair,  but  she  remem 
bered  no  such  color  as  this,  nor  could  she  recall 
ever  having  seen  hair  a  foot-and-a-half  long 
on  a  man.  That  hair  would  have  made  a 
fortune  on  the  head  of  an  actress;  but  Miss 
Mattie  wras  ignorant  of  the  possibilities  of  the 
profession. 

The  face  of  the  man  was  a  fine  tan,  against 
which  eyes,  teeth,  and  moustache  came  out  in 
brisk  relief.  The  moustache  avoided  the  trop 
ical  tint  of  the  upper  hair  and  was  content 
with  a  modest  brown.  The  ow^ner  came  right 
along,  walking  with  a  stiff,  strong,  straddling 
gait,  like  a  man  not  used  to  that  way  of  travel 
ling. 

Miss  Mattie  eyed  him  in  some  fear.  He 
would  be  by  her  house  directly,  and  it  was 
hardly  modest  to  sit  aggressively  on  one's 
front  porch,  while  a  strange  man  went  by— 
particularly,  such  a  very  strange  man  as  this! 
Yet  a  thrill  of  curiosity  held  her  for  the  mo- 


Saunders 

rnent,  and  then  -it  was.  too  late,  for  the  man 
stopped  ^and:  asked  little  Eddie  Newell,  who 
was  playing  placidly  in  the  dust — all  the 
children  played  placidly  in  Fairfield — asked 
Eddie,  in  a  voice  which  reached  Miss  Mattie 
plainly,  although  the  owner  evidently  made  no 
attempt  to  raise  it,  if  he  knew  where  Miss 
Mattie  Saunders  lived? 

Eddie  had  not  noticed  the  large  man's  ap 
proach,  and  nearly  fell  over  in  a  fright;  but 
seeing,  with  a  child's  intuition,  that  there  was 
no  danger  in  this  fierce-looking  person,  he 
piped  up  instantly. 

"  Y-y-yessir ! — I  kin  tell  yer  where  she  lives 
— Yessir !  She  lives  right  down  there  in  that 
little  house — I  kin  go  down  with  you  jes' 
swell  's  not!  Why  there  she  is  now,  on  the 
stoop!" 

"  Thankee  sonny,"  said  the  big  voice. 
"  Here's  for  miggles,"  and  Miss  Mattie  caught 
the  sparkle  of  a  coin  as  it  flew  into  the  grimy 
fists  of  Eddie. 

"  Much  obliged ! "  yelled  Eddie  and  van 
ished  up  the  street. 

Miss  Mattie  sat  transfixed.  Her  breath 
came  in  swallows  and  her  heart  beat  irregu- 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  103 

larly.  Here  was  novelty  with  a  vengeance! 
The  big  man  turned  and  fastened  his  eyes 
upon  her.  There  was  no  retreat.  She  noticed 
with  some  reassurance  that  his  eyes  were 
grave  and  kindly. 

As  he  advanced  Miss  Mattie  rose  in  agita 
tion,  unconsciously  putting  her  hand  on  her 
throat — what  could  it  mean? 

The  gate  was  opened  and  the  stranger 
strode  up  the  cinder  walk  to  the  porch.  He 
stopped  a  whole  minute  and  looked  at  her. 
At  last. 

"  Well,  Mattie !  "  be  said,  "  don't  you  know 
me?" 

A  flood  of  the  wildest  hypotheses  flashed 
through  Miss  Mattie's  mind  without  enlight 
ening  her.  Who  was  this  picturesque  giant 
who  stepped  out  of  the  past  with  so  familiar 
a  salutation?  Although  the  porch  was  a  foot 
high,  and  Miss  Mattie  a  fairly  tall  woman, 
their  eyes  were  almost  on  a  level,  as  she  looked 
at  him  in  wonder. 

Then  he  laughed  and  showed  his  white 
teeth.  "  No  use  to  bother  and  worry  you, 
Mattie,"  said  he,  "  you  couldn't  call  it  in  ten 
years.  Well,  I'm  your  half-uncle  Fred's  boy 


104  Red  Saunders 

Bill — and  I  hope  you're  a  quarter  as  glad  to 
see  me  as  I  am  to  see  you." 

"  What !  "  she  cried.  "  Not  little  Willy  who 
ran  away ! " 

"The  same  little  Willy,"  he  replied  in  a 
tone  that  made  Miss  Mattie  laugh  a  little, 
nervously,  "  and  what  I  want  to  know  is,  are 
you  glad  to  see  me?  " 

"  Why,  of  course !  But,  Will— I  suppose  I 
should  call  you  Will?  I  am  so  flustered — not 
expecting  you — and  it's  been  so  warm  to-day. 
Won't  you  come  in  and  take  a  chair?  "  wound 
up  Miss  Mattie  in  desperation,  and  fury  at 
herself  for  saying  things  so  different  from 
what  she  meant  to  say. 

There  was  a  twinkle  in  the  man's  eye  as  he 
replied  in  an  injured  tone : 

"  Why,  good  Lord,  Mattie !  I've  come  two 
thousand  miles  or  more  to  see  you,  and  you 
ask  me  to  take  a  chair,  just  as  if  I'd  stepped  in 
from  across  the  way !  Can't  you  give  a  man  a 
little  warmer  welcome  than  that?  " 

"What  shall  I  do?"  asked  poor  Miss 
Mattie. 

"  Well,  you  might  kiss  me,  for  a  start,"  said 
he. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  105 

Miss  Mattie  was  all  abroad — still  one's  half- 
cousin,  who  has  come  such  a  distance,  and 
been  received  so  very  oddly,  is  entitled  to  con 
sideration.  She  raised  her  agitated  face,  and 
for  the  first  time  in  her  life  realised  the 
pleasure  of  wearing  a  moustache. 

Then  Red  Saunders,  late  of  the  Chanta 
Seeche  Ranch,  North  Dakota,  sat  him  down. 

"  I'm  obliged  to  you,  Mattie,"  he  said  in  all 
seriousness.  "  To  tell  you  the  truth,  I  felt  in 
need  of  a  little  comforting — here  I've  come  all 
this  distance — and,  of  course,  I  heard  about 
father  and  mother — but  I  couldn't  believe  it 
was  true.  Seemed  as  if  they  must  be  waiting 
at  the  old  place  for  me  to  come  back,  and  when 
I  saw  it  all  gone  to  ruin — Well,  then  I  set  out 
to  find  somebody,  and  do  you  know,  of  all  the 
family,  there's  only  you  and  me  left?  That's 
all,  Mattie,  just  us  two ! — whilst  I  was  growing 
up  out  West,  I  kind  of  expected  things  to  be 
standing  still  back  here,  and  be  just  the  same 
as  I  left  them — hum — Well,  how  are  you  any 
how?  " 

"I'm  well,  Will,  and"— laying  her  hand 
upon  his,  "  don't  think  I'm  not  glad  to  see  you 
— please  don't.  I'm  so  glad,  Will,  I  can't  tell 


io6  Red  Saunders 

you — but  I'm  all  confused — so  little  happens 
here." 

"  I  shouldn't  guess  it  was  the  liveliest  place 
in  the  world,  by  the  look  of  it,"  said  Red. 
"  And  as  far  as  that's  concerned,  I  kinder  don't 
know  what  to  say  myself.  There's  such  a  heap 
to  talk  about  it's  hard  to  tell  where  to  begin 
— but  we've  got  to  be  friends  though,  Mattie 
— we've  just  got  to  be  friends.  Good  Lord! 
We're  all  there's  left !  Funny,  I  never  thought 
of  such  a  thing!  Well,  blast  it!  That's 
enough  of  such  talk!  I've  brought  you  a 
present,  Mattie."  He  stretched  out  a  leg  that 
reached  beyond  the  limits  of  the  front  porch, 
and  dove  into  his  trousers  pocket,  bringing 
out  a  buck-skin  sack.  He  fumbled  at  the  knot 
a  minute  and  then  passed  it  over  saying,  "  You 
untie  it — your  fingers  are  soopler  than  mine," 
Miss  Mattie's  fingers  were  shaking,  but  the 
knots  finally  came  undone,  and  from  the  sack 
she  brought  forth  a  chain  of  rich,  dull  yellow 
lumps,  fashioned  into  a  necklace.  It  weighed 
a  pound.  She  spread  it  out  and  looked  at  it 
astounded.  "  Gracious,  Will !  Is  that  gold?  " 
she  asked. 

"  That's  what,"  he  replied.    "  The  real  ar- 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  107 

tide,  just  as  it  came  out  of  the  ground:  I  dug 
it  myself.  That's  the  reason  I'm  here.  I'd 
never  got  money  enough  to  go  anywheres 
further  than  a  horse  could  carry  me  if  I  hadn't 
taken  a  fly  at  placer  mining  and  hit  her  to  beat 
h — er — the  very  mischief." 

Miss  Mattie  looked  first  at  the  barbaric, 
splendid  necklace  and  then  at  the  barbaric, 
splendid  man.  Things  grew  confused  before 
her  in  trying  to  realise  that  it  was  real.  What 
two  planets  so  separated  in  their  orbits  as  her 
world  and  his?  She  had  the  imagination  that 
is  usually  lacking  in  small  communities,  and 
the  feeling  of  a  fairy  story  come  true,  pos 
sessed  her. 

"  And  now,  Mattie,"  said  he,  "  I  don't  know 
what's  manners  in  this  part  of  the  country,  but 
I'll  make  free  enough  on  the  cousin  part  of  it 
to  tell  you  that  I  could  look  at  some  supper 
without  flinching.  I've  walked  a  heap  to-day, 
and  I  ain't  used  to  walking." 

Miss  Mattie  sprang  up,  herself  again  at  the 
chance  to  offer  hospitality. 

"Why,  you  poor  man!"  said  she.  "Of 
course  you're  starved !  It  must  be  nearly  eight 
o'clock !  I  almost  forget  about  eating,  living 


io8  Red  Saunders 

here  alone.  You  shall  have  supper  directly. 
Will  you  come  in  or  sit  a  spell  outside?  " 

"  Reckon  I'll  come  in,"  said  Red.  "  Don't 
want  to  lose  sight  of  you  now  that  I've  found 
you." 

It  was  some  time  since  Miss  Mattie  had  felt 
that  anyone  had  cared  enough  for  her  not  to 
want  to  lose  sight  of  her,  and  a  delicate  warm 
bloom  went  over  her  cheeks.  She  hurried  into 
the  little  kitchen. 

"  Mattie !  "  called  Red. 

"  What  is  it,  Will?  "  she  answered,  coming 
to  the  door. 

"  Can  I  smoke  in  this  little  house?  " 

"  Cer — tainly !  Sit  right  down  and  make 
yourself  comfortable.  Don't  you  remember 
what  a  smoker  father  was?  " 

Red  tried  the  different  chairs  with  his  hand. 
They  were  not  a  stalwart  lot.  Finally  he 
spied  the  home-made  rocker  in  the  corner. 
'  There's  the  lad  for  me,"  he  said,  drawing  it 
out.  "  Got  to  be  kinder  careful  how  you  throw 
two-hundred-fifty  pounds  around." 

"  Mercy !  "  cried  Miss  Mattie,  pan  in  hand. 
"  Do  you  weigh  as  much  as  that,  Will?  " 

"  I  do,"  returned  Red,  with  much  satisfac- 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  109 

tion.  "  And  there  isn't  over  two  pounds  of  it 
fat  at  that." 

"  What  a  great  man  you  have  grown  up  to 
be,  Will!" 

Red  took  in  a  deep  draught  of  tobacco  and 
sent  the  vapor  clear  across  the  little  room. 

"  On  the  hay-scales,  yes,"  he  answered,  with 
a  sort  of  joking  earnestness — ''but  otherwise, 
I  don't  know." 

The  return  to  the  old  home  had  touched  the 
big  man  deeply,  and  as  he  leaned  back  in  his 
chair  there  was  a  shade  of  melancholy  on  his 
face  that  became  it  well. 

Miss  Mattie  took  in  the  mass  of  him 
stretched  out  at  his  ease,  his  legs  crossed,  and 
the  patrician  cut  of  his  face,  to  which  the 
upturned  moustache  gave  a  cavalier  touch. 
They  were  good  stock,  the  Saunders,  and  the 
breed  had  not  declined  in  the  only  two  extant. 

"  He's  my  own  cousin !  "  she  whispered  to 
herself,  in  the  safety  of  the  kitchen.  "  And 
such  a  splendid  looking  man !  "  She  felt  a 
pride  of  possession  she  had  never  known  be 
fore.  Nobody  in  Fairfield  or  vicinity  had  such 
a  cousin  as  that.  And  Miss  Mattie  went  on 
joyfully  fulfilling  an  inherited  instinct  to  min- 


no  Red  Saunders 

ister  to  the  wants  of  some  man.  She  said  to 
herself  there  was  some  satisfaction  in  cooking 
for  somebody  else.  But  alack-a-day,  Miss 
Mattie's  ideas  of  the  wants  of  somebody  else 
had  suffered  a  Fairfield  change.  Nothing  was 
done  on  a  large  scale  in  Fairfield.  But  she  sat 
the  little  cakes — lucky  that  she  had  made  them 
yesterday — and  the  fried  mush,  and  the  small 
pitcher  of  milk,  and  the  cold  ham,  and  the  cold 
biscuit  on  the  table  with  a  pride  in  the  appear 
ance  of  the  feast. 

"  Supper's  ready,  Will,"  said  she. 

Red  responded  instanter.  Took  a  look  at 
the  board  and  understood.  He  ate  the  little 
cakes  and  biscuit,  and  said  they  were  the 
durned  best  he  ever  tasted.  He  also  took 
some  pot-cheese  under  a  misapprehension; 
swallowed  it,  and  said  to  himself  that  he  had 
been  through  worse  things  than  that.  Then, 
when  his  appetite  had  just  begun  to  develop, 
the  inroads  on  the  provisions  warned  him  that 
it  was  time  to  stop.  Meanwhile  they  had 
ranged  the  fields  of  old  times  at  random,  and 
as  Red  took  in  Miss  Mattie,  pink  with  excite 
ment  and  sparkling  as  to  eyes,  he  thought, 
"  Blast  the  supper !  It's  a  square  meal  just  to 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  in 

look  at  her.  If  she  ain't  pretty  good  people, 
I  miss  my  guess." 

It  was  a  merry  meal.  He  had  such  a  way  of 
telling  things!  Miss  Mattie  hadn't  laughed 
so  much  for  years,  and  she  felt  that  there  was 
no  one  that  she  had  known  so  long  and  so 
well  as  Cousin  Will.  There  was  only  one 
jarring  note.  Red  spoke  of  the  vigorous  cele 
bration  that  had  been  followed  by  the  finding 
of  gold.  It  was  certainly  well  told,  but  Miss 
Mattie  asked  in  soft  horror  when  he  had  fin 
ished,  "You  didn't  get— intoxicated— Will?  " 

"  DID  I?  "  said  he,  lost  in  memory,  and  not 
noticing  the  tone.  "  Well,  I  put  my  hand 
down  the  throat  of  that  man's  town,  and 
turned  her  inside  out !  It  was  like  as  if  Christ 
mas  and  Fourth  of  July  had  happened  on  the 
same  day." 

"Oh,  Will!"  cried  Miss  Mattie,  "I  can't 
think  of  you  like  that — rolling  in  the  gutter." 
Her  voice  shook  and  broke  off.  Her  knowl 
edge  of  the  effect  of  stimulants  wyas  limited  to 
Fairfield's  one  drunkard — old  Tommy  McKee, 
a  disreputable  old  Irishman — but  drunken 
ness  was  the  \vorst  vice  in  her  world. 

"  Rolling  in  the  gutter! "  cried  Red,  in  as- 


112  Red  Satmders 

tonishment.  "  Why  girl !  What  for  would  I 
roll  in  the  gutter?  W'hat's  the  fun  in  that? 
Jiminy  Christmas !  I  wanted  to  walk  on  the 
telegraph  wires — there  wasn't  anything  in 
that  town  high  enough  for  me — what  put 
gutters  into  your  head?" 

"  I — I  supposed  people  did  that  when  they 
were— like  that." 

"  I  wouldn't  waste  my  money  on  whisky, 
if  that's  all  the  inspiration  I  got  out  of  it,"  re 
plied  Red. 

"  Well,  of  course  I  don't  know  about  those 
things,  but  I  wish  you'd  promise  me  one 
thing." 

"  Done !  "  cried  Red.    "  What  is  it?  " 

"  I  wish  you'd  promise  me  not  to  touch 
whisky  again !  " 

"  Phew !  That's  a  pretty  big  order !  "  He 
stopped  and  thought  a  minute.  "  If  you'll 
make  that  '  never  touch  it  when  it  ain't 
needed,'  leaving  when  it's  needed  to  what's 
my  idea  of  the  square  thing  on  a  promise,  I'll 
go  you,  Mattie — there's  my  hand." 

"  Oh,  I  shouldn't  have  said  anything  at  all, 
Will !  I  have  no  right.  But  it  seemed  such 
a  pity  such  a  splendid  man — I  mean — I 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  113 

think — .  You  mustn't  promise  me  anything, 
Will,"  stammered  Miss  Mattie,  shocked  at  her 
own  daring. 

"Here!"  he  cried,  "I'm  no  little  kid! 
When  I  promise  I  mean  it !  As  for  your  not 
having  any  right,  ain't  we  all  there  is?  You've 
got  to  be  mother  and  sister  and  aunt  and 
everything  to  me.  I  ain't  as  young  as  I  have 
been,  Mattie,  and  I  miss  she-ways  terrible  at 
times.  Now  put  out  your  fin  like  a  good  pard- 
ner,  and  here  goes  for  no  more  rhinecaboos 
for  Chantay  Seeche  Red — time  I  quit  drink 
ing,  anyhow,"  he  slipped  a  ring  off  his  little 
finger.  "  Here,  hold  out  your  hand,"  said  he, 
"  I'll  put  this  on  for  luck,  and  the  sake  of  the 
promise — by  the  same  token,  I've  got  a  noose 
on  you  now,  and  you're  my  property." 

This,  of  course,  was  only  Cousin  Will's  jok 
ing,  but  Miss  Mattie  noticed  with  a  sudden 
hot  flush,  that  he  had  chosen  the  engagement 
finger — in  all  ignorance,  she  felt  sure.  The  last 
thing  she  could  do  would  be  to  call  his  atten 
tion  to  the  fact,  or  run  the  risk  of  hurting  his 
feelings  by  transferring  the  ring;  besides,  it 
was  a  pretty  ring — a  rough  ruby  in  a  plain 
gold  band — and  looked  very  well  where  it  was. 


ii4  Red  Saunders 

Then  they  settled  down  for  what  Red  called 
a  good  medicine  talk.  Miss  Mattie  found  her 
self  boldly  speaking  of  little  fancies  and  no 
tions  that  had  remained  in  the  inner  shrine 
of  her  soul  for  years,  shrinking  from  the 
matter-of-fact  eye  of  Fairfield;  yet  this  big, 
ferocious  looking  Cousin  Will  seemed  to  find 
them  both  sane  and  interesting,  and  as  her 
self-respect  went  up  in  the  arithmetical,  her 
admiration  for  Cousin  Will  went  up  in  the 
geometrical  ratio.  He  frankly  admitted  weak 
nesses  and  fears  that  the  males  of  Fairfield 
would  have  rejected  scornfully. 

Miss  Mattie  spoke  of  sleeping  upstairs,  be 
cause  she  could  not  rid  herself  of  the  fear  of 
somebody  coming  in. 

"  I  know  just  how  you  feel  about  that," 
said  Red.  "  My  hair  used  to  be  on  its  feet 
most  of  the  time  when  we  were  in  the  hay 
camp  at  the  lake  beds.  Gee  whizz !  The  rat 
tlers!  We  put  hair  ropes  around — but  them 
rattlers  liked  to  squirm  over  hair  ropes  for 
exercise.  One  morning  I  woke  up  and  there 
was  a  crawler  on  my  chest.  *  For  God's  sake, 
Pete ! '  says  I  to  Antelope  Pete,  who  was  rolled 
up  next  me,  '  come  take  my  friend  away ! '  and 


The  Chinook  Struck  F  airfield  115 

I  didn't  holler  very  loud,  neither.  Pete  was 
chain  lightning  in  pants,  and  he  grabs  Mr. 
Rattler  by  the  tail  and  snaps  his  neck,  but  I 
felt  lonesome  in  my  inside  till  dinner  time. 
You  bet !  I  know  just  how  you  feel,  exactly. 
I  didn't  have  a  man's  sized  night's  rest  whilst 
we  was  in  that  part  of  the  country." 

It  struck  Miss  Mattie  that  the  cases  were 
hardly  parallel.  "  A  rattlesnake  on  your  chest, 
Will !  "  she  cried,  with  her  hands  clasped  in 
terror. 

"  Oh !  it  wasn't  as  bad  as  it  sounds — he  was 
asleep — coiled  up  there  to  get  warm — sharp 
ish  nights  on  the  prairie  in  August — but  darn 
it !  Mattie !  "  wrinkling  up  his  nose  in  disgust, 
"  I  hate  the  sight  of  the  brutes !  " 

"  But  you  wouldn't  be  afraid  of  a  man, 
Will !  " 

"  Well,  no/'  admitted  he.  "  I've  never  been 
troubled  much  that  way.  You  see,  everybody 
has  a  different  fear  to  throw  a  crimp  in  them. 
Mine's  rattlesnakes  and  these  little  bugs  with 
forty  million  pairs  of  legs.  I  pass  right  out 
when  I  see  one  of  them  things.  They  give  me 
a  feeling  as  if  my  stummick  had  melted." 

"  Weren't   the   Indians   terrible   out   there, 


ii6  Red  Saunders 

too?  "  asked  Miss  Mattie.     "  I'm  sure  they 
must  have  been." 

"  Oh,  they  ain't  bad  people  if  you  use  'em 
right,"  said  Red.  "  Not  that  I  like  'em  any 
better  on  the  ground,  than  in  it,"  he  added 
hastily,  fearful  of  betraying  the  sentiment  of 
his  country,  "  but  I  never  had  but  one  real 
argument,  man  to  man.  Black  Wolf  and  I 
come  together  over  a  matter  of  who  owned 
my  cayuse,  and  from  words  we  backed  off  and 
got  to  shooting.  He  raked  me  from  knee  to 
hip,  as  I  was  kneeling  down,  doing  the  best 
I  could  by  him,  and  wasting  ammunition  be 
cause  I  was  in  a  hurry.  Still,  I  did  bust  his 
ankle.  In  the  middle  of  the  fuss  a  stray  shot 
hit  the  cayuse  in  the  head  and  he  croaked 
without  a  remark,  so  there  we  were,  a  pair  of 
fools  miles  from  home  with  nothing  left  to 
quarrel  about !  You  could  have  fried  an  egg 
on  a  rock  that  day,  and  it  always  makes  you 
thirsty  to  get  shot  anyways  serious,  thinking 
of  which  I  hollered  peace  to  old  Black  Wolf 
and  told  him  I'd  pull  straws  with  him  to  see 
who  took  my  canteen  down  to  the  creek  and 
got  some  fresh  water.  He  was  agreeable  and 
we  hunched  up  to  each  other.  It  ain't  to  my 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  117 

credit  to  say  it,  but  I  was  worse  hurt  than  that 
Injun,  so  I  worked  him.  He  got  the  short 
straw,  and  had  to  crawl  a  mile  through  cactus, 
while  I  sat  comfortable  on  the  cause  of  the 
disagreement  and  yelled  to  him  that  he  looked 
like  a  badger,  and  other  things  that  an  Injun 
wouldn't  feel  was  a  compliment."  Red  leaned 
back  and  roared.  "  I  can  see  him  now  putting 
his  hands  down  so  careful,  and  turning  back 
every  once  in  awhile  to  cuss  me.  Turned  out 
that  it  was  his  cayuse,  too.  Feller  that  sold  it 
to  me  had  stole  it  from  him.  I  oughtn't  to 
laugh  over  it,  but  I  can't  help  but  snicker 
when  I  think  how  I  did  that  Injun." 

Generally  speaking,  Miss  Mattie  had  a 
lively  sense  of  humour,  but  the  joke  of  this 
was  lost  on  her.  Her  education  had  been  that 
getting  shot  wras  far  from  funny. 

"  Why,  I  should  have  thought  you  would 
have  died,  Will !  " 

"What!  For  a  little  crack  in  the  leg!" 
cried  Red,  with  some  impatience.  "  You 
people  must  quit  easy  in  this  country.  Die 
nothin'.  One  of  our  boys  came  along  and 
took  us  to  camp,  and  we  was  up  and  doing 
again  in  no  time.  'Course,  Black  Wolf  has  a 


u8  Red  Saunders 

game  leg  for  good,  but  the  worst  that's  stuck 
to  me  is  a  yank  or  two  of  rheumatism  in  the 
rainy  season.  I  paid  Wolf  for  his  cayuse,"  he 
finished  shamefacedly.  "  I  had  the  laugh  on 
him  anyhow." 

Miss  Mattie  told  him  she  thought  that  was 
noble  of  him,  which  tribute  Red  took  as  medi 
cine,  and  shifted  the  subject  with  speed,  to 
practical  affairs.  He  asked  Miss  Mattie  how 
much  money  she  had  and  how  she  managed 
to  make  out.  Now,  it  was  one  of  the  canons 
of  good  manners  in  Fairfield  not  to  speak  of 
material  matters — perhaps  because  there  was 
so  little  material  matter  in  the  community,  but 
Miss  Mattie,  doomed  to  a  thousand  irksome 
petty  economies,  had  often  longed  for  a  sym 
pathetic  ear,  to  pour  into  it  a  good  honest 
complaint  of  hating  to  do  this  and  that.  She 
could  not  exactly  go  this  far  with  Cousin  Will, 
but  she  could  say  that  it  was  pretty  hard  to 
get  along,  and  give  some  details.  She  felt  that 
she  knew  him  so  very  well,  in  those  few  hours ! 
Red  heard  with  nods  of  assent.  He  had 
scented  the  conditions  at  once. 

"  It  ain't  any  fun,  skidding  on  the  thin  ice," 
said  he,  when  they  had  concluded  the  talk. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  119 

"  I've  had  to  count  the  beans  I  put  in  the  pot, 
and  it  made  me  hate  arithmetic  worse  than 
when  I  went  over  yonder  to  school.  Well, 
them  days  have  gone  by  for  you,  Mattie."  He 
reached  down  and  pulling  out  a  green  roll, 
slapped  it  on  the  centre  table.  "  Blow  that 
in,  and  limber  up,  and  remember  that  there's 
more  behind  it." 

Miss  Mattie's  pride  rose  at  a  leap. 

"  Will!  "  she  said,  "  I  hope  you  don't  think 
I've  told  you  this  to  get  money  from  you?  " 

He  leaned  forward,  put  his  hand  on  her 
shoulder  and  held  her  eyes  with  a  sudden 
access  of  sternness  and  authority. 

"  And  I  hope,  Mattie,"  said  he,  "  that  you 
don't  think  that  I  think  anything  of  the 
kind?" 

The  cousins  stared  into  each  other's  eyes  for 
a  full  minute.  Then  Miss  Mattie  spoke. 
"  No,  Will,"  said  she,  "  I  don't  believe  you 
do." 

"I  shouldn't  think  I  did,"  retorted  Red. 
"  What  in  thunder  would  I  do  with  all  that 
money?  Why,  good  Lord,  girl,  I  could  paper 
your  house  with  ten-dollar  bills — now  you  try 
to  fly  them  green  kites,  like  I  tell  you." 


120  Red  Saunders 

Miss  Mattie  broke  down,  the  not  fully  real 
ised  strain  of  fifteen  years  had  made  itself  felt 
when  the  cord  snapped.  "  I  don't  know  how 
to  thank  you.  I  don't  know  what  to  say.  Oh, 
William !  it  seems  too  good  to  be  true." 

"  What  you  crying  about,  Mattie?  "  said  he 
in  sore  distress.  "  Now  hold  on !  Listen  to 
me  a  minute !  There's  something  I  want  you 
to  do  for  me/' 

"  What  is  it?  "  she  asked,  drying  her  eyes. 

"  For  dinner  to-morrow,"  he  replied,  "  let's 
have  a  roast  of  beef  about  that  size,"  indicat 
ing  a  wash-tub. 

The  diversion  was  complete. 

"  Why,  Will !  What  would  we  ever  do  witi 
it?"  said  she. 

"Do  with  it?    Why,  eat  it!" 

"  But  we  couldn't  eat  all  that ! " 

"  Then  throw  what's  left  to  the  cats.  You 
ain't  going  to  fall  down  on  me  the  first  favour 
I  ask?  "  with  mock  seriousness. 

"  You  shall  have  the  roast  of  beef.  Tears 
to  me  that  you're  fond  of  your  stomach,  Will," 
said  Miss  Mattie,  with  a  recovering  smile. 

"  I  have  a  good  stomach,  that's  always  done 
the  right  thing  by  me,  when  I've  done  the 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  121 

right  thing  by  it,"  said  Red.  "  And  moreover, 
just  look  at  the  constitution  I  have  to  support. 
But  say,  old  lady,  look  at  that !  "  pointing  to 
the  clock.  "  Eleven-thirty;  time  decent  peo 
ple  were  putting  up  for  the  night." 

The  words  brought  to  an  acute  stage  a  wan 
dering  fear  which  had  passed  through  Miss 
Mattie's  mind  at  intervals  during  the  evening. 
Where  was  she  to  look  for  sleeping  accom 
modations  for  a  man?  She  revolted  against 
the  convention,  that,  in  her  own  mind,  as  well 
as  the  rest  of  Fairfield,  forbade  the  use  of  her 
house  for  the  purpose.  Long  habit  of  thought 
had  made  these  niceties  constitutional.  It  was 
almost  as  difficult  for  Miss  Mattie  to  say  "  I'll 
fix  up  your  bed  right  there  on  the  sofa  "  as  it 
would  have  been  for  Red  to  pick  a  man's 
pocket,  yet,  when  she  thought  of  his  instant 
and  open  generosity  and  what  a  dismal  return 
therefor  it  would  be  to  thrust  him  out  for 
reasons  which  she  divined  would  have  no 
meaning  for  him,  she  heroically  resolved  to 
throw  custom  to  the  winds,  and  speak. 

But  the  difficulty  was  cut  in  another 
fashion. 

"  There's  a  little  barn  in  the  back-yard  that 


122  Red  Saunders 

caught  my  eye,"  said  Red,  "  and  if  you'll  lend 
me  a  blanket  I'll  roll  it  out  there." 

"  Sleep  in  the  barn !  You'll  not  do  any  such 
thing !  "  cried  Miss  Mattie.  "  You'll  sleep 
right  here  on  the  sofa,  or  upstairs  in  my  bed, 
just  as  you  choose." 

"  If  it's  all  the  same  to  you,  I'd  rather  not. 
So  help  me  Bob !  I'd  smother  in  here.  Had 
the  darnedest  time  coming  on  that  ever  was 
— hotels.  Little  white  rooms  with  the  walls 
coming  in  on  you.  Worse  than  rattlesnakes 
for  keeping  a  man  awake.  Reminds  me  of 
the  hospital.  Horse  fell  on  me  once  and 
smashed  me  up  so  that  I  had  to  be  sent  to 
get  puttied  up  again,  and  I  never  struck  such 
a  month  as  that  since  I  was  born.  The  doc. 
told  me  I  mustn't  move,  but  I  told  him  I'd 
chuck  him  out  of  the  window  if  he  tried  to 
stop  me,  and  up  I  got.  I'd  have  gone  dead 
sure  if  they'd  held  me  a  week  more.  I  speak 
for  the  barn,  Mattie,  and  I  speak  real  loud; 
that  is,  I  mean  to  say  I'm  going  to  sleep  in 
the  barn,  unless  there's  somebody  a  heap 
larger  than  you  on  the  premises.  Now,  there's 
no  use  for  you  to  talk — I'm  going  to  do  just 
as  I  say."  " 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  123 

"  Well,  I  think  that's  just  dreadful !  "  said 
Miss  Mattie.  "  I'd  like  to  know  what  folks 
will  think  of  me  to  hear  I  turned  my  own 
cousin  out  in  the  barn/1  Her  voice  trailed  off 
a  little  at  the  end  as  the  gist  of  what  they 
might  say  if  he  stayed  in  the  house,  occurred 
to  her.  "  Well,"  she  continued,  '"  if  you're  set, 
I  suppose  I  can't  object."  Miss  Mattie  was 
not  a  good  hand  at  playing  a  part. 

"  I'm  set,"  said  Red/  "  Get  me  a  blanket." 
As  she  came  in  with  this,  he  added,  "  Say, 
Mattie,  could  you  let  me  have  a  loaf  of  bread? 
I've  got  a  habit  of  wanting  something  to  eat 
in  the  middle  of  the  night." 

"  Certainly !  Don't  you  want  some  butter 
with  it?  Here,  I'll  fix  it  for  you  on  a  plate." 

"  No,  don't  waste  dish-washing — I'll  show 
you  how  to  fix  it."  He  cut  the  loaf  of  bread 
in  half,  pulled  out  a  portion  of  the  soft  part 
and  filled  the  hole  with  butter.  "  There  we 
are,  and  nothing  to  bother  with  afterwards." 

"  That's  a  right  smart  notion,  Will — but 
you'll  want  a  knife." 

In  answer  he  drew  out  a  leather  case  from 
his  breast  pocket  and  opened  it.  Within  was 
knife,  fork,  spoon  and  two  flat  boxes  for  salt 


124  Red  Saunders 

and  pepper.  "  You  see  I'm  fixed,"  said 
he. 

"  Isn't  that  a  cute  trick !  "  she  cried  admir 
ingly.  "  You're  ready  for  most  anything." 

"  Sure,"  said  Red.  "  Now,  good  night,  old 
lady !  "  He  bent  down  in  so  natural  a  fashion 
that  Miss  Mattie  had  kissed  him  before  she 
knew  what  she  was  going  to  do. 

Down  to  the  barn,  through  the  soft  June 
evening,  went  Red,  whistling  a  Mexican  love 
song  most  melodiously. 

Miss  Mattie  stood  in  the  half-opened  door 
and  listened.  Without  was  balm  and  starlight 
and  the  spirit  of  flowers,  breathed  out  in 
odours.  The  quaint  and  pretty  tune  rose  and 
fell,  quavered,  lilted  along  as  it  listed  without 
regard  for  law  and  order.  It  struck  Miss 
Mattie  to  the  heart.  Her  girlhood,  with  its 
misty  dreams  of  happiness,  came  back  to  her 
on  the  wings  of  music. 

"  Isn't  that  a  sweet  tune,"  she  said,  with  a 
lump  in  her  throat. 

She  went  up  into  her  room  and  sat  down  a 
moment  in  confusion,  trying  to  grasp  the 
reality  of  all  that  had  happened.  In  the  middle 
of  the  belief  that  these  things  were  not  so,  came 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  125 

the  regret  of  a  sensitive  mind  for  errors  com 
mitted.  She  remembered  with  a  sudden  sink 
ing,  that  she  had  not  thanked  him  for  the 
necklace — and  the  money  lay  even  now  on  the 
parlor  table,  where  he  had  cast  it !  This  added 
the  physical  fear  of  thieves.  Down  she  went 
and  got  the  money,  counted  out,  to  her  un 
mitigated  astonishment,  five  hundred  dollars 
and  thrust  it  beneath  her  pillow  with  a  shiver. 
She  wished  she  had  thought  to  tell  him  to  take 
care  of  it — but  suppose  the  thieves  were  to  fall 
on  him  as  he  slept?  Red's  friends  would  have 
spent  their  sympathy  on  the  thieves.  She 
rejoiced  that  the  money  was  where  it  was. 
Then  she  tried  to  remember  what  she  had  said 
throughout  the  evening. 

"  Well,  I  suppose  I  must  have  acted  like  a 
ninny,"  she  concluded.  "  But  isn't  he  just 
splendid !  "  and  as  Cousin  Will's  handsome 
face,  with  its  daring,  kind  eyes,  came  to  her 
vision  she  felt  comforted.  "  I  don't  believe 
but  what  he'll  make  every  allowance  for  how 
excited  I  was,"  said  she.  "  He  seems  to  un 
derstand  those  things,  for  all  he's  such  a  large 
man.  Well,  it  doesn't  seem  as  if  it  could  be 
true."  With  a  half  sigh  Miss  Mattie  knelt 


126  Red  Saunders 

and  sent  up  her  modest  petition  to  her  Maker 
and  got  into  her  little  white  bed. 

In  the  meantime  Red's  actions  would  have 
awakened  suspicion.  He  hunted  around  until 
he  found  a  tin  can,  then  lit  a  match  and  rum 
maged  the  barn,  amid  terror-stricken  squawks 
from  the  inhabitants,  the  hens. 

"  One,  two,  three,  four/'  he  counted. 
"  Reckon  I  can  last  out  till  morning  on  that. 
Mattie,  she's  white  people — just  the  nicest  I 
ever  saw,  but  she  ain't  used  to  providing  for 
a  full-grown  man." 

He  stepped  to  the  back  of  the  barn  and 
looked  about  him.  "  Nobody  can  see  me  from 
here,"  he  said,  in  satisfaction.  Then  he  scraped 
together  a  pile  of  chips  and  sticks  and  built  a 
fire,  filled  the  tin  can  at  the  brook,  sat  it  on 
two  stones  over  the  fire,  rolled  himself  a 
cigarette  and  waited.  A  large,  yellow  tom-cat 
came  out  of  the  brush  and  threw  his  green 
headlights  on  him,  meaowing  tentatively. 

"  Hello,  pussy !  "  said  Red.  "  You  hungry 
too?  Well,  just  wait  a  minute,  and  we'll  help 
that  feeling — like  bread,  pussy?  "  The  cat 
gobbled  the  morsel  greedily,  came  closer  and 
begged  for  more.  The  tin  can  boiled  over. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  127 

Red  popped  the  eggs  in,  puffed  his  cigarette 
to  a  bright  coal,  and  looked  at  his  watch  by 
the  light.  "  Gee !  Ten  minutes  more,  now !  " 
said  he.  "  Hardly  seems  to  me  as  if  I  could 
wait."  He  pulled  the  watch  out  several  times. 
"  What's  the  matter  with  the  damn  thing? 
I  believe  it's  stopped/'  he  growled.  But  at 
last  "  Time !  "  he  shouted  gleefully,  kicked  the 
can  over  and  gathered  up  its  treasures  in  his 
handkerchief. 

"  Now,  Mr.  Cat,  we're  going  to  do  some 
real  eating,"  said  he.  "  Just  sit  right  down 
and  make  yourself  at  home — this  is  kind  of 
fun,  by  Jinks !  "  Down  went  the  eggs  and 
down  went  the  loaf  of  bread  in  generous 
slices,  never  forgetting  a  fair  share  for  the 
cat. 

"  Woosh!  I  feel  better!"  cried  Red,  "and 
now  for  some  sleep."  He  swung  up  into  the 
hay-loft,  spread  the  blanket  on  the  still  fragrant 
old  hay,  and  rolled  himself  up  in  a  trice. 

"  I  did  a  good  turn  when  I  came  on  here," 
he  mused.  "  If  I  have  got  only  one  relation, 
she's  a  dandy — so  pretty  and  quiet  and  nice. 
She's  a  marker  for  all  I've  got,  is  Mattie." 

The   cat  came  up,  purring  and   "  making 


128          Red  Saunders 

bread."     He  sniffed  feline  fashion  at  Red's 
face. 

"  Foo !  Shoo !  Go  'way,  pussy !  Settle 
yourself  down  and  we'll  pound  our  ear  for 
another  forty  miles.  I  like  you  first  rate  when 
you  don't  walk  on  my  face."  He  stretched  and 
yawned  enormously.  "  Yes  sir !  Mattie's  all 
right,"  said  he.  "  A-a-a-11  ri-"  and  Chantay 
Seeche  Red  was  in  the  land  of  dreams.  Here, 
back  in  God's  country,  within  twenty  miles  of 
the  place  where  he  was  born,  the  wanderer  laid 
him  down  again,  and  in  spite  of  raid  and  foray, 
whisky  and  poker-cards,  wear-and-tear,  hard 
times,  and  hardest  test  of  all,  sudden  fortune, 
he  was  much  the  same  impulsive,  honest,  gen 
erous,  devil-may-care  boy  who  had  left  there 
twenty-four  years  ago. 


II 

THE  next  morning  when  Red  awoke, 
arrows  of  gold  were  shooting  through 
the  holes  in  the  old  barn,  and  outside,  the  bird 
life,  the  twittering  and  chirping,  the  fluent 
whistle  and  the  warble,  the  cackle  and  the 
pompous  crow,  were  in  full  chorus. 

"Where  am  I  at,  this  time?"  said  he,  as 
he  took  in  the  view.  "  Oh,  I  remember !  "  and 
his  heart  leapt.  "  I'm  in  my  own  home,  by 
the  Lord !  " 

He  went  down  to  the  brook  and  washed, 
drying  hands  and  face  on  the  silk  neckerchief, 
which  is  meant  for  use  as  well  as  for  decora 
tion. 

In  the  meantime,  Miss  Mattie  had  awak 
ened,  with  a  sense  of  something  delightful  at 
hand,  the  meaning  of  which  escaped  her  for 
the  time.  And  then  she  remembered,  and 
sprang  out  of  bed  like  a  girl.  She  went  to 
the  window,  threw  open  the  shutters  and  let 
the  stirring  morning  air  flow  in.  This  had 
been  her  habit  for  a  long  time.  The  window 
129 


*3o  Red  Saunders 

faced  away  from  the  road,  and  no  one  could 
see  who  was  not  on  Miss  Mattie's  own  prem 
ises. 

But  this  morning  Red  had  wandered 
around.  Stopping  at  the  rose  bushes  he 
picked  a  bud. 

"  That  has  the  real  old-time  smell,"  he  said, 
as  he  held  it  to  his  nose.  "  Sweetbriars  are 
good,  and  I  don't  go  back  on  'em,  but  they 
ain't  got  the  fram  these  fellers  have." 

Bud  in  hand  he  walked  beneath  Miss  Mat- 
tie's  windows,  and  he  was  the  first  thing  her 
eye  fell  upon. 

Her  startled  exclamation  made  him  look  up 
before  she  had  time  to  withdraw. 

"  Hello  there !  "  he  called  joyfully.  "  How 
do  you  open  up  this  day?  You  look  pretty 
well ! "  he  added  with  a  note  of  admiration. 
Miss  Mattie  had  the  wavy  hair  which  is  never 
in  better  order  than  when  left  to  its  own  de 
vices.  Her  idea  of  coiffure  was  not  the  most 
becoming  that  could  have  been  selected,  as 
she  felt  that  a  "  young  "  style  of  hair  dressing 
was  foolish  for  a  single  woman  of  her  years. 
Now,  with  the  pretty  soft  hair  flying,  her 
eyes  still  humid  with  sleep,  and  a  touch  of 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  131 

color  in  her  face  from  the  surprise,  relieved 
against  the  fleecy  shawl  she  had  thrown  about 
her  shoulders,  she  was  incontestably  both  a 
discreet  and  pretty  picture.  Yet  Miss  Mattie 
could  not  forget  the  bare  feet  and  night-gown, 
although  they  were  hidden  from  masculine 
eyes  by  wood  and  plaster,  and  she  was  em 
barrassed.  Still,  with  all  the  super-sensitive 
fancies,  Miss  Mattie  had  a  strong  back-bone 
of  New  England  common-sense.  She  an 
swered  that  she  felt  very  well  indeed,  and,  to 
cover  any  awkwardness,  inquired  what  he  had 
in  his  hand. 

"  Good  old  rose/'  replied  Red.  "  Old-time 
smeller — better  suited  to  you  than  to  me — 
ketch !  " 

At  the  word  he  tossed  it,  and  Miss  Mattie 
caught  it  dexterously.  Red  had  an  exceed 
ingly  keen  eye  for  some  things,  and  he  noticed 
the  certainty  of  the  action.  He  hated  fum- 
blers.  "A  person  can  do  things  right  if  they've 
got  minds  that  wrork,"  was  one  of  his  pet  say 
ings.  "  Taint  the  muscles  at  all — it's  in  the 
head,  and  I  like  the  kind  of  head  that's  in  use 
all  the  time."  Therefore  this  small  affair  made 
an  impression  on  him. 


132  Red  Saunders 

"  Why,  you  could  be  a  baseball  player,"  said 
he. 

"  I  used  to  play  with  Joe,  when  I  was  a 
girl,"  said  Miss  Mattie,  smiling.  "  I  always 
liked  boy's  play  better  than  I  did  girl's.  Joe 
taught  me  how  to  throw  a  ball,  too.  He  said 
he  wouldn't  play  with  me  unless  I  learned  not 
to  '  scoop  it,'  girl  fashion.  I  suppose  you  will 
be  wanting  breakfast?  "  There  was  a  hint  of 
sarcasm  in  the  doubt  of  the  inquiry. 

"That's  what  I  do!"  said  Red.  "You 
must  just  hustle  down  and  get  things  to  boil 
ing,  or  I'll  throw  bricks  through  the  windows. 
I've  been  up  for  the  last  two  hours." 

"Why!  I  don't  believe  it!"  said  Miss 
Mattie. 

"  No  more  do  I,  but  it  seems  like  it,"  re 
plied  Red.  "  Don't  you  want  the  fire  started? 
Come  down  and  open  up  the  house." 

When  Miss  Mattie  appeared  at  the  door,  in 
he  strode  with  an  armful  of  wood,  dropping 
it  man-fashion,  crash!  on  the  floor. 

"  Skip  out  of  the  way !  "  said  he.  "  1*11  show 
you  how  to  build  a  fire !  " 

The  early  morning  had  been  the  most  deso 
late  time  to  Miss  Mattie.  As  the  day  warmed 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  133 

up  the  feeling  of  loneliness  vanished,  perhaps 
to  return  at  evening,  but  not  then  with  the 
same  absoluteness  as  when  she  walked  about 
the  kitchen  to  the  echo  of  her  own  footsteps 
in  the  morning. 

Now  the  slamming  and  the  banging  which 
accompanied  Red's  energetic  actions  rang  in 
her  ears  most  cheerily.  She  even  found  a 
relish  in  the  smothered  oath  that  heralded 
the  thrust  of  a  splinter  in  his  finger.  It 
was  very  wicked,  but  it  was  also  very  much 
alive. 

Red  arose  and  dusted  off  his  knees.  "  Now 
we're  off !  "  he  said  as  the  fire  began  to  roar. 
"What's  next?" 

"  If  you'd  grind  the  coffee,  Will?  "  she  sug 
gested. 

"  Sure !    Where's  the  hand  organ?  " 

He  put  the  mill  between  his  knees,  and  con 
verted  the  beans  to  powder,  to  the  tune  of 
"  Old  dog  Tray  "  through  his  nose,  which  Miss 
Mattie  found  very  amusing. 

She  measured  out  the  coffee,  one  spoonful 
for  each  cup,  and  one  for  the  pot.  Red 
watched  her  patiently,  and  when  she  had  fin 
ished,  he  threw  in  the  rest  of  the  contents  of 


134  Red  Saunders 

the  mill-drawer.  "  I  like  it  fairly  strong,"  said 
he  in  explanation. 

"Now,  Will!"  protested  Miss  Mattie. 
"  Look  at  you !  That  will  be  as  bitter  as 
boneset ! " 

"  Thin  her  up  with  milk  and  she'll  be  all 
right,"  replied  Red. 

"  Well,  such  wasteful  ways  I  never  did  see. 
Nobody'd  think  you  were  a  day  over  fifteen." 

"  I'm  not,"  said  Red  stoutly,  "  and,"  catch 
ing  her  chin  in  his  hand  and  turning  her  face 
up  toward  him — "  Nobody'd  put  your  score 
much  higher  than  that  neither,  if  they  trusted 
to  their  eyes  this  morning." 

The  compliment  hit  so  tender  a  place  that 
Miss  Mattie  lacked  the  resolution  to  tear  it 
out,  besides,  it  was  so  honest  that  it  sounded 
much  less  like  a  compliment  than  a  plain  state 
ment  of  fact.  She  bent  hastily  over  the  fire. 
"  I'm  glad  I  look  young,  Will,"  she  said  softly. 

"  So'm  I !  "  he  assented  heartily.  "  What's 
the  sense  in  being  old,  anyhow?  I'm  as  lim 
ber  and  good  for  myself  as  ever  I  was,  in  spite 
of  my  forty  years." 

"You're  not  forty  years  old!"  exclaimed 
Miss  Mattie.  "You're  joking!" 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  135 

"  Nary  joke — forty  round  trips  from  flying 
snow  to  roses  since  I  hit  land,  Mattie — why, 
you  were  only  a  little  girl  when  I  left  here — 
don't  you  remember?  You  and  your  folks 
came  to  see  us  the  week  before  I  left.  I  got 
a  thrashing  for  taking  you  and  Joe  to  the  mill- 
pond,  and  helping  you  to  get  good  and  wet. 
The  thrashing  was  one  of  the  things  that  gave 
me  a  hankering  for  the  West.  Very  liberal 
man  with  the  hickory,  father.  Spare  the 
clothes  and  spoil  the  skin  was  his  motto.  He 
used  to  make  me  strip  to  the  waist — phee-hew ! 
Even  a  light  breeze  rested  heavy  on  my  back 
when  dad  got  through  with  me — say,  Mattie, 
perhaps  I  oughtn't  to  say  so,  now  that  he's 
gone,  but  I  don't  think  that's  the  proper  way 
to  use  a  boy,  do  you?" 

"  No,  I  don't,"  said  Miss  Mattie.  "  Your 
father  meant  well,  but  his  way  was  useless  and 
cruel." 

"  I've  forgiven  him  the  whole  sweep,"  said 
Red.  "But  damn  me!  If  I  had  a  boy  I 
wouldn't  club  the  life  out  of  him — I'd  try  to 
reason  with  him  first,  anyhow.  Makes  a  boy 
as  ugly  as  anybody  else  to  get  the  hide  whaled 
off  his  back  for  nothing — once  in  a  while  he 


136  Red  Saunders 

needs  it.  Boy  that's  got  any  life  in  him  gets 
to  be  too  much  occasionally  and  then  a 
warming  is  healthful  and  nourishing.  Lord! 
You'd  think  I  was  the  father  of  my  country 
to  hear  me  talk,  wouldn't  you?  If  somebody'd 
write  a  book,  e  What  Red  Saunders  don't 
know  about  raising  children '  it  would  be  full 
of  valuable  information — how's  that  breakfast 
coming  on?  " 

"  All  ready— sit  right  down,  Will." 

"  Go  you ! "  cried  Red,  and  incautiously 
flung  himself  upon  one  of  the  kitchen  chairs, 
which  collapsed  instantly  and  dropped  him  to 
the  floor. 

"  Mercy  on  us !  Are  you  hurt?  "  cried  Miss 
Mattie,  rushing  forward. 

"Hurt?"  said  Red.  "Try  it!— just  jump 
up  in  the  air  and  sit  on  the  floor  where  you 
are  now,  and  see  if  you  get  hurt !  Oh,  no ! 
I'm  not  hurt,  but  I'm  astonished  beyond 
measure,  like  the  man  that  tickled  the  mule. 
I'll  take  my  breakfast  right  here — shouldn't 
wonder  a  bit  if  the  floor  went  back  on  me  arid 
landed  me  in  the  cellar — no  sir !  I  won't  get 
up !  Hand  me  the  supplies,  I  know  when  I'm 
well  off.  If  you  want  to  eat  breakfast  with 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  137 

me  come  sit  on  the  floor.  I'm  not  going  to 
have  my  spine  pushed  through  the  top  of  my 
head  twice  in  the  same  day." 

"  Will !  You  are  the  most  ridiculous  per 
son  I  ever  did  see !  "  said  Miss  Mattie,  and 
she  laughed  till  she  cried  in  sheer  light- 
heartedness.  "  But  there's  a  chair  you  can 
trust — come  on  now." 

"  Well,  if  you'll  take  your  solemn  oath  that 
this  one  has  no  moustache  to  deceive  me," 
said  Red  doubtfully.  "  It  looks  husky — well, 
I'll  try  it — Hooray !  She  didn't  give  an  inch. 
This  kind  of  reminds  me  of  the  time  Jimmy 
Hendricks  came  back  from  town  and  walked 
off  the  edge  of  the  bluff  in  the  dark.  It  just 
happened  that  Old  Scotty  Ferguson's  cabin 
was  underneath  him.  Jim  took  most  of  the 
roof  off  with  him  as  he  went  in.  He  sat 
awhile  to  figure  out  what  was  trumps,  having 
come  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  too  fast  to  do 
much  thinking.  Then,  '  Hello ! '  he  yells. 
Old  Scotty  was  a  sleeper  from  'way  back,  but 
this  woke  him  up. 

"  '  Hello ! '  says  he.     '  Was'er  matter?  ' 

"  Jim  saw  he  wasn't  more  than  half  awake 
yet,  so  he  says,  '  Why,  I  was  up  on  the  bluff 


138  Red  Saunders 

there,  Scotty,  and  seeing  it  was  such  a  short 
distance  I  thought  I'd  drop  in ! ' 

11 '  Aw  ri'/  grunted  Scotty.  '  Make  y'self  t' 
home/  and  with  that  he  rolls  over. 

"  Jim  couldn't  wait  for  morning,  and  though 
his  leg  was  pretty  badly  sprained,  he  made  the 
trip  all  the  way  round  the  trail  and  woke  us 
up  to  tell  us  how  he'd  gone  through  Fergu 
son's  roof  and  the  old  man  asked  him  to  make 
himself  at  home.  Next  morning  there  was 
Scotty  out  in  front  of  his  cabin,  his  thumbs  in 
his  vest  holes,  looking  up. 

"'What's  the  matter,   Scotty?'  says  I. 

" '  Well,  I  wisht  you'd  tell  me  what  in  the 
name  of  God  went  through  that  roof ! '  says 
he. 

"  I  swallered  a  laugh  cross-ways  and  put  on 
a  serious  face.  '  Must  have  been  a  rock/ 
says  I. 

"  '  Rock  nothin' ! '  says  he.  '  If  it  had  been 
a  rock  'twould  have  stayed  in  the  cabin, 
wouldn't  it !  Well,  there  ain't  the  first  blasted 
thing  of  any  shape  nor  description  in  there  but 
the  hole — you  can  go  in  and  look  for  your 
self/ 

"  It  cost  Scotty  one  case  of  rye  to  make  us 
forget  those  circumstances." 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fair-field  139 

"  I  should  have  thought  the  man  would  be 
killed,  striking  on  the  roof  that  way,"  said 
Miss  Mattie. 

"  Oh,  no !  Roof  was  made  of  quaking-asp 
saplings,  just  about  strong  enough  to  break 
his  fall.  Scotty  was  the  sleeper,  though !  It 
wasn't  hardly  natural  the  way  that  man  could 
pound  his  ear  through  thick  and  thin.  He 
had  quite  a  surprising  time  of  it  once.  He'd 
been  prospecting  'round  the  Ruby  refractory 
ore  district  and  he  came  out  at  Hank  Cutter's 
saw-mill,  just  at  sun-down.  Hank's  place  was 
full  of  gold  rushers,  so  Old  Scotty  thought 
he'd  sleep  out-doors  in  peace  and  quiet.  He 
discovered  some  big  boxes,  that  Hank  w«is 
making  for  ore  bins  for  the  new  mill,  and  as 
the  ground  was  kind  of  damp  from  a  thunder- 
shower  they  had  that  day,  he  spreads  his 
blanket  inside  the  box  and  goes  to  sleep;  ore 
bins  have  to  be  smooth  and  dust  tight,  so  it 
wasn't  a  bad  shanty. 

"  Well,  there  came  a  jar  and  waked  him  up. 
The  box  was  rolling  a  little,  and  going  along, 
going  along  forty  mile  an  hour.  Scotty  lit  a 
match  and  found  he  was  in  a  kind  of  big  tun 
nel  but  the  wall  was  flying  by  so  fast,  he 


140  Red  Saunders 

couldn't  make  out  just  what  kind  of  a  tunnel 
it  was.  Now,  he'd  gone  to  sleep  in  peace  and 
quiet  on  a  side  hill,  and  to  wake  up  and  find 
himself  boat-riding  in  a  tunnel  was  enough 
to  surprise  anybody.  First  he  pinched  him 
self  to  see  if  it  was  Hank's  pie,  or  a  cold  fact, 
found  it  was  a  fact,  then  he  lit  another  match 
and  leaned  over  and  looked  at  the  black  water 
underneath,  but  this  made  the  box  tip  so  it 
scart  him  and  he  settled  down  in  the  bottom 
again.  He  didn't  try  to  think — what  was  the 
use?  No  man  living  could  have  figured  things 
out  with  the  few  facts  Scotty  had  before  him. 
All  of  a  sudden  the  box  made  a  rush  and  shot 
out  into  the  air,  and  Scotty  felt  they  were 
falling.  '  God  sakes ! '  he  says  to  himself. 
'  What's  next,  I  wonder?  '  Then  they  hit  the 
water  below  with  a  ker-flap  that  nearly  tele 
scoped  Scotty  and  sent  the  spray  flying.  After 
that  they  went  along  smooth  again.  '  Well/ 
says  Scotty,  ' 1  don't  know  where  I  am,  nor 
who  I  am,  nor  what's  happened,  nor  who's  it, 
nor  nothing  about  this  game.  So  far  I  ain't 
been  hurt,  though,  and  I  might  just  as  well 
lie  down  and  get  a  little  more  rest/ 

"  It  was  broad  daylight  when  he  woke  up 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  141 

again,  and  a  man  was  looking  into  the  box. 
'Hello,  pardner!'  he  says.  'I  hope  you've 
had  a  pleasant  journey — do  you  always  travel 
this  way? ' 

"  Scotty  raised  up  and  found  his  craft  was 
aground — high  and  dry — no  water  within  a 
hundred  feet  of  it.  On  one  side  was  quite  a 
little  town. 

"  '  Say/  says  he,  '  could  I  trouble  you  to  tell 
me  where  I  am,  friend? ' 

"  *  You're  at  Placerville/  answers  the  other. 

"  '  Placerville ! '  yells  Scotty,  '  and  I  went  to 
sleep  at  Cutter's  Mill,  sixty-five  miles  from 
here ! — what  are  you  giving  us,  man?  ' 

"  *  I'm  putting  it  to  you  straight/  says  the 
stranger.  *  Take  a  look  around  you.' 

"  Scotty  looked  and  there  was  all  kinds  of 
wreckage,  from  a  dead  beef  critter  to  a  wheel 
barrow. 

"  '  What  in  nation's  all  this?  '  says  he. 

"  '  Washout/  says  the  man.  '  Cloud  burst 
up  on  the  divide — worst  we've  ever  had — 
your  box  is  about  high  water  mark — you  see 
there  was  water  enough  for  awhile — I  reckon 
you're  about  the  only  thing  that  came  through 
alive.' 


142  Red  Saunders 

"'Well,  wouldn't  that  knock  you?'  says 
Scotty. 

— "  Whilst  the  rest  of  the  folk  at  the  mill 
was  taking  to  the  high  ground  for  their  lives, 
with  the  water  roaring  and  tearing  through 
the  gulch,  Scotty  had  peacefully  gone  off  in 
his  little  boat,  down  the  creek,  and  instead  of 
going  over  the  rapids,  where  he'd  have  been 
done,  for  all  his  luck,  the  box  ambles  through 
the  flume  they  was  building  for  the  new  mill. 
Of  course  there  was  the  jounce  over  the  tail 
race,  but  that  hadn't  hurt  him  much,  and  after, 
he  rocked  in  the  cradle  of  the  deep,  until  he 
got  beached  at  Placerville. 

"  '  Come  along,  friend,'  says  Scotty  to  the 
feller,  '  you  and  me  are  going  to  have  a  little 
drink  on  this,  if  it  is  the  last  act.'  And  I 
reckon  probably  they  made  it  two,  for  when 
Scotty  got  back  again  he  was  in  a  condition 
that  made  everybody  believe  that  he'd  only 
guessed  at  the  story  he  told.  But  they  found 
out  afterward  it  was  a  solemn  fact.  Mattie, 
give  us  some  more  coffee." 

Thus  abruptly  recalled  to  Fairfield,  Miss 
Mattie  started  up. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  143 

"  Well,  Will,  it  does  seem  as  if  that  was  a 
dangerous  country  to  live  in,"  said  she. 

"  Oh,  not  so  awful !  "  said  Red.  "  Just  as 
many  people  die  here  as  they  do  there — this 
world's  a  dangerous  place  to  live  in,  wherever 
you  strike  it,  Mattie." 

"  That's  so,"  said  she,  thoughtfully. 

"  And  now,"  said  Red,  pushing  back  his 
chair,  "  it's  time  I  got  to  work  and  left  you  to 
do  the  housework  undisturbed." 

"What  are  you  going  to  do,  Will?" 

"  First  place,  there's  fences  and  things  to 
be  tinkered  up,  I  see.  I  suppose  a  millionaire 
like  me  ought  to  hire  those  things  done,  but 
I'd  have  measles  of  the  mind  if  I  sat  around 
doing  nothing." 

"  I  have  been  wanting  to  get  the  place  in 
good  order  for  some  time,"  said  Miss  Mattie, 
"  but  what  with  the  money  I  had  to  spend  for 
this  and  that,  and  not  being  able  to  get  Mr. 
Joyce  to  come  in  for  a  day's  work  when  I 
wanted  him,  it's  gone  on,  until  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  wrack  to  it." 

"  We'll  wrack  it  t'other  way  round  in  no 
time — got  any  tools  here?" 


144  Re(i  Saunders 


"  Out  in  the  barn  is  what's  left  of  father's 
tools  —  people  have  borrowed  'em  and  forgot 
to  return  'em,  and  they've  rusted  or  been 
lost  until  I'm  afraid  there  ain't  many  of  'em 
left." 

"  Well,  I'll  get  along  to-day  somehow,  and 
later  on  we'll  stock  up  —  want  any  help  around 
the  house?" 

"  Thank  you,  no,  Will." 

"  Then  I'm  off." 

It  was  almost  with  a  feeling  of  terror  that 
Miss  Mattie  beheld  him  root  up  the  fence. 
Her  idea  of  repairing  was  to  put  in  a  picket 
here  and  there  where  it  was  most  needed; 
Red's  was  to  knock  it  all  flat  first,  and  set  it 
up  in  A  i  condition  afterward.  So,  in  two 
hours'  time  he  straightened  up  and  snapped 
the  sweat  from  his  brow,  beholding  the  slain 
pickets  prone  on  the  grass  with  thorough  sat 
isfaction.  Yet  he  felt  tired,  for  the  day  was 
already  hot  with  a  moist  and  soaking  sea- 
coast  heat,  to  which  the  plainsman  was  unac 
customed.  A  three-quarter-grown  boy  passed 
by,  lounging  on  the  seat  of  a  farm  waggon. 

"  Hey  !  "  hailed  Red.  The  boy  stopped  and 
turned  slowly  around. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fail-field  145 

"  Yes,  sir/' he  answered  courteously  enough. 

"Want  a  job?"  said  Red. 

"  Well,  I  dunno,"  replied  the  boy.  He  was 
much  astonished  at  the  appearance  of  his  in 
terrogator,  and  he  was  a  cautious  New  Eng 
land  boy  to  boot. 

"  You  don't  know?  "  retorted  Red.  "  Well," 
with  some  sarcasm,  "  d'ye  suppose  I  could 
find  out  at  the  post-office?" 

The  boy  looked  at  Red  with  a  twinkle  in  his 
eye,  and  a  comical  drawing  of  his  long  mouth. 

"  I  calculate  if  you  cud  fin'  out  anyweres, 
'twould  be  there,"  said  he. 

Red  laughed.  He  had  noticed  the  busy 
post-mistress  rushing  out  of  her  store  to  way 
lay  anyone  likely  to  have  information  on  any 
subject,  a  stream  of  questions  proceeding  from 
her  through  the  door. 

"  Say,  you  got  anything  particular  to  do?  " 

"  No,  sir — leastways  th'ain't  no  hurry  about 
it." 

"  Can  I  buy  stuff  to  make  a  fence  with, 
around  here?  " 

"  Yes,  sir — Mister  Pettigrew's  got  all  kinds 
of  buildin'  material  at  his  store — two  mile  over 
yonder,"  pointing  with  the  whip. 


146  Red  Saunders 

"  You  drive  over  there  for  me,  and  get 
some — just  like  this  here — pickets  and  posts 
and  whatever  you  call  them  long  pieces,  and 
I'll  make  it  right  with  you." 

"  Yes,  sir — how  much  will  I  get?  " 

"  Oh,  tell  him  to  fill  the  waggon  up  with 
it,  and  I'll  send  back  what  I  don't  want — 
hustle,  now,  like  a  good  boy;  I  want  to  get 
shut  of  this  job;  I  liked  it  better  before  I  be- 
gun." 

When  his  Mercury  had  speeded  on  the 
journey  at  a  faster  gait  than  Red  would  have 
given  him  credit  for,  the  architect  strode 
down  to  the  blacksmith's  shop.  There  was  a 
larger  crowd  than  usual  around  the  forge,  as 
the  advent  of  the  stranger  had  gotten  into 
the  wind,  and  the  village  Vulcan  was  a  person 
who  not  only  looked  the  whole  world  in  the 
face,  but  no  one  of  the  maiden  ladies  of  Fair- 
field  could  have  excelled  his  interest  in  look 
ing  the  whole  world  as  much  in  the  inside 
pocket  as  possible.  The  blacksmith  was  em 
phatically  a  gossip,  as  well  as  a  hardworking, 
God-fearing  man. 

"  Say,  there  he  comes  now,  Mr.  Tuttle ! " 
cried  one  of  the  loungers,  and  nudged  the 
smith  to  look. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  147 

"  Well,  let  him  come !  "  retorted  the  smith, 
testily,  jamming  a  shoe  in  the  fire  with  un 
necessary  force;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  was 
embarrassed.  The  loungers  huddled  together 
for  moral  support,  as  the  big  cow-man  loomed 
through  the  doorway. 

"  Good  morning,  friends!  "  said  he. 

"Good  morning,  sir!"  replied  the  black 
smith,  rubbing  his  hands  on  his  apron.  "  Nice 
day,  sir?  " 

"  For  the  sake  of  good  fellowship,  I'll  say 
'  yes  '  to  that,"  responded  Red.  "  But  if  you 
want  my  honest  opinion  on  the  subject,  it's 
damn  hot." 

"  Tis  that,"  assented  the  smith,  and  a  si 
lence  followed. 

"  Say,  who's  your  crack  fence-builder 
around  here?"  asked  Red.  "The  man  that 
can  make  two  pickets  grow  where  only  one 
grew  before  and  do  it  so  easy  that  it's  a 
pleasure  to  sit  and  look  at  him?" 

"  Hey?  "  inquired  the  smith,  not  precisely 
getting  the  meaning  of  the  address. 

"  Why,  I've  got  a  fence  to  build,"  exclaimed 
Red.  "  And  now  I  want  some  help — want  it 
so  bad,  I'll  produce  to  the  extent  of  three  a 


148  Red  Saunders 

day  and  call  it  a  day  from  now  'till  six  o'clock 
— any  takers  here?  Make  your  bets  while  the 
little  ball  rolls." 

The  loungers  understood  the  general  drift 
of  this  and  pricked  up  their  ears,  as  did  the 
blacksmith.  "  Guess  one  of  the  boys  will  help 
you,"  said  the  latter. 

"Well,  who's  it?"  asked  Red,  glancing  at 
the  circle  of  faces.  Three  dollars  a  day  was 
enormous  wages  in  that  part  of  the  country. 
Nobody  knew  just  what  to  say. 

"  Oh,  well !  "  cried  Red,  "  let's  everybody 
run — I  reckon  I  can  find  something  to  do  for 
the  five  of  you — are  you  with  me?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  they  said  promptly. 

"  Can  I  borrow  a  hammer  or  so  off  you,  old 
man?  "  questioned  Red  of  the  smith. 

"  Certainly,  sir,"  returned  the  latter  heartily. 
"  Take  what  you  want." 

"  Much  obliged — and  the  gate  hinges  are 
out  of  whack — Miss  Saunders'  place,  you 
know — come  over  and  take  a  squint  at  'em 
in  the  near  by-and-by,  will  you?  May  as  well 
fix  it  up  all  at  once — come  on,  boys !  " 

It  was  thus  that  the  greatest  enterprise  that 
Fairfield  had  seen  in  many  a  day  was  under- 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  149 

taken.    Miss  Mattie  was  simply  astounded  as 
the  army  bore  down  upon  the  house. 

"  Whatever  in  the  world  is  Cousin  Will  do 
ing?  "  said  she;  but  resting  strong  in  the  faith 
that  it  was  necessarily  all  right,  she  was  con 
tent  to  wait  for  dinner  and  an  explanation. 
Not  so  the  post-mistress.  The  agonies  of 
unrequited  curiosity  the  worthy  woman  suf 
fered  that  morning  until  she  at  last  summoned 
up  her  resolution  and  asked  the  smith  plump 
out  and  out  what  it  all  meant,  would  have  to 
be  experienced  to  be  appreciated.  And  the 
smith  kept  her  hanging  for  a  while,  too,  say 
ing  to  himself  in  justification,  that  it  wasn't 
right  the  way  that  old  gal  had  to  get  into 
everybody's  business.  The  smith  was  like 
some  of  the  rest  of  us;  he  could  see  through 
a  beam  if  it  was  in  his  own  eye. 


HI 

THERE  was  a  great  din  of  whacking  and 
hammering  that  morning.  Red  worked 
like  a  horse,  now  that  he  had  company.  A 
sudden  thought  struck  him  and  he  went  into 
the  house. 

"  Mattie,"  said  he. 

"Well,  Will?" 

"  I  see  a  use  for  the  rest  of  that  nice  big 
roast  of  beef  I  smell  in  the  oven — let's  have 
all  these  fellers  stay  to  dinner,  and  give  'em 
one  good  feed — what  do  you  say?" 

"  Why,  I'd  like  to,  Will— but  I  don't  know 
— where'll  I  set  them?" 

"  Couple  of  boards  outside  for  a  table — let 
them  sit  on  boxes  or  something — got  plates 
and  things  enough?  " 

"  My,  yes !    Plenty  of  such  things,  Will." 

"  Then  if  it  ain't  too  much  trouble  for  you, 
we'll  let  it  go." 

"  No  trouble  at  all,  Will— it  will  be  a  regu 
lar  picnic." 

"  Boys,  you'll  eat  with  me  this  day,"  said 

Red. 

150 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  151 

They  spread  the  board  table  beneath  an  old 
apple  tree,  and  cleaned  up  for  the  repast  in 
the  kitchen  storm-shed  with  an  apologetic, 
"  Sorry  to  trouble  you,  Miss  Saunders,"  or 
such  a  matter  as  each  went  in. 

Just  as  Miss  Mattie  was  withdrawing  the 
meat  from  the  oven,  there  came  a  knock  at 
the  door. 

"  Goodness,  gracious ! "  she  exclaimed. 
"  Who  can  that  be  now?  Will,  will  you  see 
who  that  is?  I  can't  go." 

"  Sure !  "  said  Red,  and  w^ent  to  the  door. 
There  stood  two  women  of  that  indefinite 
period  between  forty  and  sixty,  very  decently 
dressed  and  writh  some  agitation  visible  in  the 
way  they  fussily  adjusted  various  parts  of  their 
attire. 

They  started  at  the  sudden  spectacle  of  the 
huge  man  who  said  pleasantly,  "  Howderdo, 
ladies !  " 

"  Why,  how  do  you  do?  "  replied  the  taller 
instantly,  and  in  a  voice  she  had  never  heard 
before.  "  I  hope  you're  well,  sir?  "  A  remark 
which  filled  her  with  surprise. 

"  Thanks — I'm  able  to  assume  the  perpen 
dicular,  as  you  can  see,"  responded  Red  with 


152  Red  Saunders 

a  handsome  smile  of  welcome.  "  How  do  you 
find  yourself?  " 

"  I'm  pretty  well,"  said  the  flustered  lady. 
"  How  do  you  do?  " 

"  Durned  if  we  ain't  right  back  where  we 
started  from/'  mourned  Red  to  himself.  "  If 
it's  one  of  the  customs  of  this  country  saying 
'  howderdo  '  an  hour  at  a  stretch,  I  pass  it  np." 
Aloud,  he  said,  "  Coming  along  fine — how's 
your  father?  "  "  Cuss  me  if  I  don't  shift  the 
cut  a  little,  anyhow,"  he  added  mentally. 

"  Why,  he's  very  well  indeed !  "  exclaimed 
the  lady  with  fervor.  "  How — "  She  got 
no  further  on  the  query,  for  the  other  woman 
interrupted  in  a  tone  of  scandal.  "  Mary  Ann 
Demilt !  How  can  you  talk  like  that !  Your 
father's  been  dead  this  five  year  last  August !  " 

The  horror  of  the  moment  was  broken  by 
the  appearance  of  Miss  Mattie,  crying  hospit 
ably  on  seeing  the  visitors,  "  Why,  Mary  and 
Pauline !  How  do  you  do?  " 

The  shorter  one — Pauline — looked  up  and 
said  sharply,  "  We're  well  enough,  Mattie." 
She  was  weary  of  the  form. 

"  Come  right  in,"  said  Miss  Mattie. 
"  You're  just  in  time  for  dinner." 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  153 

There  was  a  great  protest  at  this.  They 
"  hadn't  a  moment  to  spare,"  they  were  "  just 
going  down  to  the  corner,  and  had  stopped 
to  say,"  etc.,  etc. 

"  You've  got  to  help  me,"  said  Miss  Mattie. 
"  Will  here  has  invited  the  boys  who  are  work 
ing  for  him  to  stay  to  dinner,  and  it  won't  be 
any  more  than  Christian  for  you  to  help  me 
out." 

"  Ladies !  "  said  Red.  "  If  you  don't  want 
to  starve  a  man  who's  deserving1  of  a  better 
fate,  take  off  your  fixings  and  come  out  to 
dinner.  No,"  he  continued  to  their  protests, 
which  he  observed  were  growing  weaker. 
"  It's  no  trouble  at  all :  there's  plenty  for 
everybody — come  one,  come  all,  this  house 
shall  fly,  clean  off  its  base  as  soon  as  I — Now 
for  Heaven's  sake,  ladies,  it's  all  settled — 
come  on." 

Whereat  they  laughed  nervously,  and  took 
off  their  hats. 

It  was  a  jolly  dinner  party.  The  young 
fellows  Red  had  picked  up  in  the  blacksmith's 
shop  were  not  the  ordinary  quality  of  loungers. 
They  were  boys  of  good  country  parentage, 
with  a  common  school  education,  who,  unfort- 


154  Red  Saunders 

unately,  could  find  nothing  to  do  but  the  oc 
casional  odd  job.  Of  course  it  would  not  take 
long  to  transform  them  into  common  n'er-do- 
wells,  but  now  they  were  merely  thoughtless 
boys. 

The  whole  affair  had  an  al  fresco  flavor 
which  stoppered  convention.  The  two  women 
visitors  pitched  in  and  had  as  good  a  time  as 
anybody. 

In  the  middle  of  the  festivities  a  young  man 
walked  past  the  front  fence;  a  stranger  evi 
dently,  for  his  clothes  wore  the  cut  of  a  city, 
and  a  cosmopolitan,  up-to-date  city  at  that. 
He  stopped  and  looked  at  the  house,  hesitated 
a  moment  and  then  walked  in,  back  to  where 
the  folk  were  eating. 

"  Excuse  me,"  said  he,  as  they  looked  up  at 
him,  "but  isn't  this  Mr.  Demilt's  house?" 

A  momentary  silence  followed,  as  it  was  not 
clear  whose  turn  it  was  to  answer.  Miss 
Mattie  glanced  around  and  finding  Red's  eye 
on  her,  replied,  "  No  sir — Mr.  Demilt's  house 
is  about  a  mile  further  up  the  road." 

"  Dear  me !  "  said  the  young  man  ruefully. 
He  was  a  spic-and-span,  intelligent  looking 
man,  with  less  of  the  dandy  about  him  than 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  155 

the  air  of  a  man  who  had  never  worn  anything 
but  clothes  of  the  proper  trim,  and  become 
quite  used  to  it.  Nevertheless  the  sweat  stood 
out  in  drops  on  his  forehead,  for  Fairfield's 
front  "  street  "  savoured  of  a  less  moral  region 
than  it  really  was,  on  a  broiling  summer  day. 

The  young  man  sighed  frankly  and  wiped 
his  head.  "Well,  that's  too  bad/'  he  said. 
"  I'm  a  stranger  here — would  you  kindly  tell 
me  where  I  could  get  some  dinner?  " 

"What's  the  matter  with  that?"  inquired 
Red,  pointing  to  the  roast,  which  still  pre 
served  an  air  of  fallen  greatness.  He  had  liked 
the  look  of  the  other  instantly. 

The  stranger  looked  first  at  Red  and  then 
at  the  roast.  "  The  only  thing  I  can  see  the 
matter  with  that,"  he  answered,  "  is  that  it  is 
a  slice  too  thick." 

"  Keno !  "  cried  Red,  "  you  get  it.  Mattie, 
another  plate  and  weapons  to  fit.  Sit  down, 
sir,  and  rest  your  fevered  feet.  If  you  don't 
like  walking  any  better  than  I  do,  you've  prob 
ably  strewn  fragments  of  one  of  the  command 
ments  all  the  way  from  where  the  stage 
dropped  you  to  this  apple  tree." 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  I  did  make  some  re- 


156  Red  Saunders 

marks  that  I  never  learned  at  my  mother's 
knee,"  returned  the  other  laughing.  "  And 
I'm  exceedingly  obliged  for  the  invitation,  as 
there  doesn't  seem  to  be  a  hotel  here,  and  I 
am  but  a  degree  south  of  starvation." 

"Red  or  black?"  asked  the  host,  with  a 
quick  glance  at  his  guest. 

The  other  caught  the  allusion.  "  I  haven't 
followed  the  deal,"  he  replied,  "  but  I'll  chance 
it  on  the  red." 

Somehow  he  felt  instantly  at  home  and  at 
ease;  it  was  a  quality  that  Red  Saunders  dis 
persed  wherever  he  went. 

"  There  you  are,  sir,"  said  Red,  forwarding 
a  plate  full  of  juicy  meat.  "  The  ladies  will 
supply  the  decorations." 

"  Do  you  like  rice  as  a  vegetable,  sir?  "  in 
quired  Miss  Mattie. 

«  No— he  doesn't,"  interrupted  Red.  "  He 
likes  it  as  an  animal — never  saw  anyone  who 
looked  less  like  a  vegetable  than  our  friend." 
The  young  man's  laugh  rang  out  above  the 
others. 

Poor  Miss  Mattie  was  confused.  "  It's  too 
bad  of  you,  Will,  to  put  such  a  meaning  on  my 
words,"  she  said. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  157 

"  The  strange  part  of  it  is,"  spoke  the  young 
man,  seeing  an  opportunity  for  a  joke,  and  to 
deal  courteously  with  his  entertainers  at  the 
same  time.  "  The  peculiar  fact  is,  that  my 
name  is  Lettis." 

"  Lettuce?  "  cried  Red.  "  Mattie,  I  apolo 
gise — he  is  a  vegetable." 

At  which  they  all  laughed  again. 

"  And  now,"  said  Red,  "  I'm  Red  Saunders, 
late  of  the  Chantay  Seeche  Ranch,  Territory 
of  Dakota — State  of  North  Dakota,  I  mean, 
can't  get  used  to  the  State  business;  there's 
a  Bill  and  a  Dick  on  this  side  of  me  and  two 
Johns  and  a  Sammy  on  the  other.  Foot  of 
the  table  is  Miss  Mattie  Saunders,  next  to  her 
— just  as  they  run — Miss  Pauline  Doolittle 
and  Miss  Mary  Ann  Demilt,  who  may  be  kin 
to  the  gentleman  you're  seeking." 

"Mr.  Thomas  F.  Demilt?"  asked  the 
stranger. 

"  He's  my  sister,"  responded  Miss  Mary 
Ann.  Whereat  the  youths  buried  their  faces 
in  the  plates,  as  Mr.  Thomas  F.,  in  spite  of 
many  excellent  qualities,  bore  a  pathetic  re 
semblance  to  the  title. 

"  I  mean,"  continued  the  lady  hurriedly, 
"  that  I'm  his  brother." 


158  Red  Saunders 

"  By  Jimmy,  ma'am ! "  exclaimed  Red. 
"  But  yours  is  a  strange  family !  " 

"  What  Miss  Demilt  wishes  to  say,"  cut  in 
Miss  Doolittle  with  some  asperity,  "  is  that 
Mr.  Thomas  Faulkenstone  Demilt  is  her 
brother."  She  did  not  add,  as  extreme  candour 
would  have  urged,  "  And  I  have  some  hope 
— remote,  alas !  but  there — of  becoming  sister 
to  Miss  Demilt  myself." 

"Thank  you!"  said  Lettis.  "Shall  I  be 
able  to  see  him  this  afternoon?  " 

"  Oh,  mercy,  yes ! "  said  Miss  Mary  Ann. 
"  Tom  is  home  all  day." 

"  I  can  thank  the  kind  fates  for  that,"  said 
Lettis.  "  I  had  begun  to  think  he  was  a 
myth,"  and  he  fell  in  upon  the  tender  meat 
with  the  vigorous  appetite  of  youth  and  a 
good  digestion. 

Nathaniel  Lettis  was  by  no  means  a  fool, 
and  he  had  experience  in  business,  but  the 
mainspring  of  the  young  fellow  was  frank 
ness,  and  in  the  course  of  the  dinner  he  told 
his  errand.  Mr.  Demilt  had  written  to  his 
firm  explaining  the  advantages  of  starting  a 
straw-board  factory  in  Fairfield.  It  was  too 
small  a  thing  for  the  firm  to  be  interested  in, 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  159 

but  Lettis  had  a  small  capital  which  he  wished 
to  invest  in  an  enterprise  of  his  own  handling, 
and  it  had  struck  him  that  there  might  be  a 
chance  for  independence;  therefore  he  had 
come  to  find  out  the  lay  of  the  land. 


Red  Saunders'  first-glance  liking  of  the 
stranger  deepened  as  he  told  of  his  business. 
The  cowman  did  not  blame  people  who  took 
devious  ways  and  dealt  in  ambiguities,  for  his 
experience  in  the  world,  which  was  pretty 
fairly  complete,  had  told  him  that  craft  was  a 
necessity  for  weak  natures;  nevertheless  he 
cared  not  for  those  who  used  it. 

In  his  part  of  the  West,  a  man  would  no 
more  think  of  giving  a  false  impression  of  his 
financial  standing  to  alter  his  position  in  one's 
regard,  than  he  would  wear  corsets.  Money 
was  of  small  consequence;  its  sequelse  of  less. 
Men  spoke  openly  of  how  much  they  made; 
how  they  liked  the  job;  how  their  claims  were 
paying;  such  matters  were  neutral  ground  of 
chance  conversation,  as  the  weather  is  in  the 
East.  The  rapid  and  unpredictable  changes 
of  fortune  gave  a  tendency  to  make  light  of 


160  Red  Saunders 

one's  present  condition.  A  man  would  say 
"  I'm  busted  "  without  any  more  feeling  than 
he  would  say  "  I  have  a  cold."  Now,  in  Fair- 
field,  that  is  not  likely  lonesome  in  that  re 
spect,  one  of  the  principal  objects  in  life  was 
to  conceal  the  poverty  which  would  persist  in 
sticking  its  gaunt  elbows  through  the  cloth 
of  words  spread  over  it.  Red  asked  straight 
forward  questions — shrewd  ones,  too — seeing 
that  the  other  was  one  of  his  own  kind  and 
would  not  resent  it. 

Lettis  wanted  nothing  better  than  a  chance 
to  expand  on  the  subject.  It  was  close  to  his 
heart.  He  had  been  a  subordinate  about  as 
long  as  a  proud  and  masterful  young  fellow 
ought  to  be.  Now  he  was  quivering  to  try 
his  own  strength,  and  seeing,  for  his  part,  that 
his  host  was  inspired  with  a  genuine  interest 
and  not  curiosity,  he  gave  him  all  the  infor 
mation  in  his  power. 

"  But  a  plant  like  that  is  going  to  cost  some 
money,  ain't  it?  "  asked  Red. 

"  Too  much  for  me,  I'm  afraid,"  replied 
Lettis.  "  I  have  five  thousand  to  put  in,  and 
I  suppose  I  could  borrow  the  rest,  but  that's 
saddling  the  business  with  too  heavy  charges 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  161 

right  in  the  beginning.  Still,  it  may  not  be 
as  bad  as  I  fancy." 

Red  drummed  on  the  table,  thinking.  "  I 
wouldn't  mind  getting  into  a  business  of  some 
kind,  as  long  as  it  was  making  things,"  he 
said.  "  I  don't  hanker  to  keep  store  much 
— suppose  I  go  along  with  you,  when  you 
look  up  how  much  straw  is  raised  and  the 
rest  of  it?" 

"Would  you?"  cried  the  young  fellow, 
eagerly.  "  By  George,  sir,  I  wish  you  could 
see  your  way  clear  to  take  hold  of  it.  Could 
you  stand  ten  thousand,  for  instance?  Ex 
cuse  the  question,  but  I'm  so  anxious  over 
this " 

"  Lord !  What's  the  harm  of  asking  facts?  " 
said  Red.  Then  with  a  gleam  of  genial  pride, 
"  Ten  thousand  wouldn't  break  me  by  a  durn 
sight." 

Lettis'  boyish  face  fairly  glowed.  "  It  was 
my  good  angel  made  me  stop  in  front  of  your 
fence,"  he  said.  "  I  saw  you  all  eating  in  here 
and  you  looked  so  jolly,  that  I  thought  I'd 
stop,  on  the  chance  you  might  be  the  man  I 
was  looking  for;  now  I'll  go  right  on  and  see 
Mr.  Demilt  and  find  out  what  he  wants  to 
do  in  the  matter." 


Red  Saunders 

"  Wait  for  the  waggon  and  you  can  ride," 
said  Red.  "  Boy's  gone  home  to  see  his  dad 
about  working  for  me  this  afternoon;  in  the 
meantime,  if  you're  not  too  proud  to  take  hold 
and  help  us  with  this  dod-ratted  fence,  I'll  be 
obliged  to  you." 

"  Bring  on  your  fence !  I'm  ready,"  said 
Lettis. 

"  Come  on,  boys !  "  said  Red,  and  the  party 
rose  from  the  table.  Later  the  waggon  came 
up. 

"  Well,  good  day,  Lettis,"  said  Red.  "  If 
you  can't  get  quarters  anywhere  else,  come 
on  and  help  me  hold  the  barn  down." 

"Do  you  sleep  in  the  barn?  Then  I'll 
come  back  sure.  Tell  you  how  it  is,  Mr. 
Saunders.  I've  been  stuck  up  in  a  three-by- 
nine  office  for  four  years — nose  held  to  '  A  to 
M,  Western  branch,'  and  if  I'm  not  sick  of 
it  there's  no  such  thing  as  sickness;  to  get 
out  and  breathe  the  fresh  air,  to  see  the 
country,  to  be  my  own  master!  Well,  sir,  it 
just  makes  me  tremble  to  think  of  it.  I  hope 
you  find  the  straw-board  what  you  want  to 
take  up." 

"  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  it  would  be,"  an- 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  163 

swered  Red.  "  We'll  make  a  corking  team 
to  do  business,  Lettis,  I  can  see  that — so 
cautious  and  full  of  tricks,  and  all  that." 

The  young  man  laughed  and  then  sobered 
down.  "  Of  course,  I  know  the  w^hole  thing 
would  look  insane  to  most  people,"  he  said 
sturdily,  "  but  I've  been  in  business  long 
enough  to  see  sharp  gentlemen  come  to  grief 
in  spite  of  their  funny  work.  I  don't  believe 
a  man'll  come  to  any  more  harm  by  believing 
people  mean  well  by  him  than  he  would  by 
working  on  the  other  tack." 

"  Good  boy !  "  said  Red,  slapping  him  on 
the  back.  "  You  stick  to  that  and  you'll  get 
a  satisfaction  out  of  it  that  money  couldn't 
buy  you.  Another  thing,  you'd  never  get  a 
cent  out  of  me  in  this  world  if  you  were  one 
of  these  smooth  young  men.  My  eye  teeth 
are  cut,  son.  for  all  I  may  seem  easy.  The 
man  that  does  me  a  trick  has  a  chance  for  bad 
luck,  and  you  can  bet  on  that." 

"Lord!  I  believe  you!"  replied  Lettis, 
taking  in  the  dimensions  of  his  new  friend. 
"  Well,  good-bye  for  the  present,  Mr.  Saun- 
ders — thank  you  for  the  dinner  and  still  more 
for  the  heart  you  have  put  into  me." 


164  Red  Saunders 

At  six  o'clock  the  fence  was  not  quite  fin 
ished. 

"  If  you'll  stay  with  me  until  the  thing's 
done,  I'll  stand  another  dollar  all  around," 
said  Red.  "  I  don't  want  it  to  stare  me  in 
the  face  to-morrow." 

The  eldest  spoke  up.  "  We'll  stay  with  you, 
Mr.  Saunders,  but  we  don't  want  any  money 
for  it,  do  we,  fellers?  " 

"  No,"  they  replied  in  chorus,  well  meaning 
what  they  said. 

"  Why,  you're  perfectly  welcome  to  the 
cash !  "  said  Red. 

"  And  you're  welcome  to  the  work,"  re 
torted  the  boy.  "  We're  paid  plenty  as  it 


is." 


"  If  that's  the  way  you  look  at  it,  I'm  much 
obliged  to  you,"  said  Red,  who  would  not 
have  discouraged  such  a  feeling  for  anything. 
He  said  to  himself,  "  This  don't  seem  much 
like  the  kind  of  people  I've  heard  inhabited 
these  parts.  Those  boys  are  all  right.  Reckon 
if  you  use  people  decent  they'll  play  up  to 
your  lead,  no  matter  what  country  it  is." 

At  seven  thirty  the  fence  was  done,  gor 
geous  in  a  coat  of  fresh  red  paint,  and  the 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  165 

hands  departed,  each  with  a  slice  of  Miss 
Mattie's  chocolate  cake,  a  thing  to  make  the 
heathen  gods  feel  contemptuous  of  ambrosia. 

They  went  straight  to  the  blacksmith's  shop, 
where  they  were  anxiously  expected. 

"  Good  Lord !  "  he  said  a  little  later,  "  if  you 
fellers  will  talk  one  at  a  time,  p'r'aps  I  can 
make  out  what's  happened.  Now,  Sammy, 
sp'ose  you  do  the  speaking?  " 

Whereupon  Sammy  faithfully  chronicled 
the  events  of  the  day.  The  boys  had  behaved 
themselves  as  if  there  was  nothing  out  of  the 
common  happening  while  they  were  with  Red, 
being  held  up  by  a  sense  of  pride,  but  natur 
ally,  the  splendid  physique  of  the  cowman,  his 
picturesque  attire,  his  abandoned  way  of  scat 
tering  money  around  and  the  air  of  a  frolic 
he  had  managed  to  impart  to  a  day's  hard 
work,  all  had  effect  on  imagination,  and  the 
boys  were  very  much  excited. 

"  I'd  like  to  know  how  many  Injuns  that 
feller's  killed !  "  piped  up  the  youngest.  "  My ! 
he  could  grab  hold  of  a  man  and  wring  his 
neck  like  a  chicken." 

"  Aw,  tst !  "  remonstrated  the  blacksmith. 
But  the  elders  stood  by  the  younker  this  time. 


166  Red  Saunders 

"Yes,  he  could,  Mr.  Farrel!"  said  they. 
"  You  ought  to  seen  him  when  he  rolled  up 
his  sleeves !  He's  got  an  arm  on  him  like  the 
hind  leg  of  a  horse,  and  he  uses  an  ax  like  a 
tack-hammer.  He  got  mad  once  when  he 
pounded  his  thumb,  and  busted  the  post 
square  in  two  with  one  crack." 

"  Well,  he  looks  like  a  husky  man,"  ad 
mitted  the  blacksmith.  "  But  why  didn't  you 
boys  take  the  extry  dollar  when  he  made  the 
offer?  He  'pears  to  know  what  he  was  about 
and  looks  kind  of  foolish  to  say  '  no '  to  it." 

There  was  a  moment's  silence.  "  We 
wanted  to  show  him  we  were  just  as  good 
as  the  folks  he  knew,"  explained  the  eldest, 
somewhat  shame-facedly. 

The  blacksmith  straightened  himself. 
"  Quite  right,  too,"  said  he.  "  We  air,  when 
you  come  to  that."  A  little  pride  is  a  won 
derful  tonic.  Each  unit  of  that  gathering  felt 
himself  the  better  for  the  display  of  it. 

r 

In  the  meantime,  Red  was  repairing  the 
ravages  of  the  day  opposite  Miss  Mattie  at 
a  supper  table  which  was  bountifully  spread. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  167 

Miss  Mattie  put  two  and  two  together,  and 
found  they  meant  a  larger  sum  of  eatables 
than  she  had  hitherto  felt  sufficient,  and  with 
a  little  pang  at  the  thought  of  the  inadequacy 
of  her  first  offering  to  her  cousin,  provided 
such  fatness  as  the  land  of  Fairfield  boasted. 

They  discussed  the  events  of  the  day  with 
satisfaction. 

"  My !  "  said  Miss  Mattie.  "  You  do  things 
wholesale  while  you  are  about  it,  Will,  don't 
you?" 

Red  smiled  in  pleased  acknowledgment. 
"  I'm  no  peanut  stand,  old  lady,"  said  he.  "  I 
like  to  see  things  move." 

Then  Miss  Mattie  broached  the  question 
she  had  been  hovering  around  ever  since  her 
guests  had  taken  their  leave. 

"  Do  you  think  you'll  really  go  into  busi 
ness  with  that  young  man  who  was  here  to 
dinner?  "  she  asked. 

"  Why,  I  think  it's  kinder  likely,"  said  Red. 

"  But  you  don't  know  anything  about  him, 
Will,"  she  continued,  putting  the  weak  side 
of  her  desire  forward,  in  order  to  rest  more 
securely  if  that  stood  the  test. 

"  No,  I  don't,"  agreed  Red.     "  But  here's 


i68  Red  Saunders 

the  way  I  feel  about  that :  I  want  to  be  doing 
something  according  to  my  size;  besides  that, 
it  would  be  a  good  thing  for  this  place  if  some 
kind  of  a  live  doings  was  to  start  here.  All 
right,  that's  my  side  of  it.  Now,  as  far  as 
not  knowing  that  young  feller's  concerned,  I 
might  think  I  knew  him  from  cyclone-cellar 
to  roof-tree,  and  he  might  do  me  to  a  crowded 
house.  My  idea  is  that  life's  a  good  deal  like 
faro — you  know  how  that  is." 

"  I  remember  about  his  not  letting  the  peo 
ple  go,  but  I'm  afraid  I  don't  know  my  Bible 
as  well  as  I  ought  to,  Will,"  apologised  Miss 
Mattie,  rather  astonished  at  his  allusion. 

"Let  the  people  go?  Bible?"  cried  Red, 
laying  down  his  knife  and  fork,  still  more 
astonished  at  her  allusion.  "  Will  you  kindly 
tell  me  what  that  has  to  do  with  faro-bank? 
Girl,  one  of  us  is  full  of  ghost  songs,  and  far, 
far  off  the  reservation.  What  in  the  name 
of  Brigham  Young's  off-ox  are  you  talking 
about?" 

"  Why,  you  spoke  of  Pharaoh,  Will,  and  I 
can  remember  about  his  holding  the  children 
of  Israel  captive,  and  the  plagues,  but  I  really 
don't  see  just  how  it  applies." 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  169 

"  Oh !  "  said  Red,  as  a  great  light  broke 
upon  him.  "  Oh,  I  see  what  you're  thinking 
about.  The  old  boy  who  corralled  the  Jews, 
and  made  'em  work  for  the  first  and  last  time 
in  their  history,  and  they  filled  him  full  of 
fleas,  and  darkness,  and  all  kinds  of  unpleasant 
experiences  to  break  even?  Well,  I  was  not 
talking  about  him  at  all.  My  faro  is  a  game 
played  with  a  lay-out  and  a  pack  of  cards  and 
a  little  tin  box  that  you  ought  to  look  at  care 
fully  before  you  put  any  money  on  the  board, 
to  see  that  it  ain't  arranged  for  dealing  sec 
onds;  and  there's  a  lookout  and  a  case  keeper 
and — well,  I  don't  believe  I  could  tell  you  just 
how  it  works,  but  some  day  I'll  make  a  lay 
out  and  we'll  have  some  fun.  It's  a  bully 
game,  but  I  say,  it's  a  great  deal  like  life — 
the  splits  go  to  the  dealer;  that  is  to  say,  that 
if  the  king  comes  out  to  win  and  lose  at  the 
same  time,  you  lose  anyhow,  see?" 

"  No,"  said  Miss  Mattie,  truthfully. 

Red  thrust  his  fingers  through  his  hair  and 
sighed.  "  I'm  afraid  I  know  too  much  about 
it  to  explain  it  clearly,"  he  replied.  "  But 
what  I  mean  is  this:  some  people  try  to  play 
system  at  faro,  and  they  last  about  as  quick 


170  Red  Saunders 

as  those  that  don't.  I  always  put  the  limit  on 
the  card  that's  handiest,  and  the  game  don't 
owe  me  a  cent;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  some  of 
the  tin-horns  used  to  wear  a  pained  expres 
sion  when  they  saw  me  coming  across  the 
room.  I've  split  'em  from  stem  to  keelson 
more  than  once,  and  never  used  a  copper  in 
my  life — played  'em  wide  open,  all  the  time. 
Now,"  and  he  brought  his  fist  down  on  the 
table,  "  I'm  going  to  play  that  young  man 
wide  open,  and  I'll  bet  you  I  don't  lose  by 
him  neither.  He  looks  as  honest  as  a  mastiff 
pup,  for  all  he  dresses  kind  of  nice.  I  might 
just  as  well  try  him  on  the  fly,  as  to  go  lunk- 
heading  around  and  get  stuck  anyhow,  with 
the  unsatisfactory  addition  of  feeling  that  I 
was  a  fool,  as  well  as  confiding." 

Most  of  the  argument  had  been  ancient 
Aryan  to  Miss  Mattie,  but  the  ring  of  the 
voice  and  the  little  she  understood  made  the 
tenor  plain.  A  sudden  moisture  gathered  in 
her  eyes  as  she  said,  "  You're  too  good  and 
honest  and  generous  a  man  to  distrust  any 
body:  that's  what  I  think,  Will." 

"  Mattie,  I  wish  you  wouldn't  talk  like 
that,"  said  he,  in  an  injured  voice.  "  It  ain't 
hardly  respectable." 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  171 

After  which  there  was  a  silence  for  a  short 
time.  Then  said  Miss  Mattie,  "  Do  you  think 
you  could  content  yourself  here,  Will,  after 
all  the  things  you've  seen?  " 

Red  brightened  at  the  change  of  topic. 
"  I'll  tell  you  how  that  is :  if  I  hadn't  any 
capital,  and  had  to  work  here  as  a  poor  man, 
I  don't  believe  I'd  take  the  trouble  to  try 
and  live — I'd  smother;  but  having  that  pleas 
ant  little  crop  of  long  greens  securely  planted 
in  the  bank  where  the  wild  time  doesn't  grow, 
and  thusly  being  able  to  cavort  around  as  it 
sweetly  pleases  me,  why,  I  like  the  country. 
It's  sport  to  take  hold  of  a  place  like  this, 
that's  only  held  together  by  its  suspenders, 
and  try  to  make  a  real  live  man's  town  out  of 
it." 

Miss  Mattie  drew  a  deep  breath  of  relief. 
"  You  came  like  the  hero  in  a  fairy  story, 
Will,  and  I  was  afraid  you'd  go  away  like 
one,"  she  said. 

He  reached  across  the  table  and  patted  her 
hand.  "  You'd  have  had  to  gone,  too,"  said 
he.  "  The  family'll  stick  together." 

She  thanked  him  in  a  soft  little  voice. 
"  Dear  me !  "  she  murmured.  "  It  does  seem 
that  you've  been  here  a  year.  Will." 


172  Red  Saunders 

"  Never  was  told  that  I  was  such  slow  com 
pany  before." 

"  You  know  perfectly  well  that  that  isn't 
what  I  mean." 

"  Well,  you'll  have  to  put  up  with  me  for 
a  while,  whatever  I  am;  insomuch  as  I'm  to 
be  a  manufacturer  and  the  Lord  knows  what. 
Then  some  day  I'm  going  to  have  an  awful 
hankering  for  the  land  where  the  breeze  blows, 
and  then  we'll  take  a  shute  for  open  prairie. 
It's  cruelty  to  animals  for  me  to  straddle 
a  horse  now,  yet  there's  where  I'm  at  home, 
and  I'm  going  to  buy  me  a  cayuse  of  some 
kind — say,  I  ought  to  get  at  that;  if  I'm  go 
ing  around  with  Lettis  I  want  to  ride  a  horse 
—know  anybody  that's  got  a  real  live  horse 
for  sale,  Mattie?  No?  Well,  I'll  stop  in  and 
see  the  lady  that  deals  the  mail — I'll  bet  you 
what  that  woman  doesn't  know  about  what's 
going  on  in  this  camp  will  never  get  into  his 
tory — be  back  right  away." 

Said  he  to  the  post-mistress,  "  My  name's 
Saunders,  ma'am — cousin  to  Miss  Mattie.  I 
just  stopped  in  to  find  out  if  you  knew  any 
one  that  had  a  riding  horse  for  sale;  horse 
with  four  good  legs  that'll  carry  me  all  day, 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  173 

and  about  the  rest  I  don't  care  a  frolicsome 
cuss." 

The  post-mistress  replied  at  such  length, 
and  with  such  velocity  that  Red  was  amazed. 
He  gathered  from  her  remarks  that  a  certain 
Mr.  Upton  had  an  animal,  purchased  of  a 
chance  horse  dealer,  which  it  was  altogether 
likely  he  would  dispose  of,  as  the  first  time 
he  had  tried  the  brute  it  went  up  into  the 
air  all  sorts  of  ways,  and  caused  the  owner 
to  perform  such  tricks  before  high  Heaven 
as  made  the  angels  weep. 

"  Where  does  this  man  live?  "  asked  Red, 
with  a  kindling  eye. 

"  He  lives  about  three  miles  out  on  the 
Peterville  road,  but  he's  in  town  to-night 
visitin'  Miss  Alders — Johnny !  "  to  a  small  boy 
who  had  been  following  the  conversation,  his 
wide-open  eyes  bent  on  Red,  and  his  mouth 
and  wiggling  bare  toes  expressing  their  de 
light  in  vigorous  contortions,  "  Johnny,  you 
run  tell  Mr.  Upton  there's  a  gentleman  in 
here  wants  to  see  him  about  buying  a 
horse." 

"  Don't  disturb  him  if  he's  visiting,"  remon 
strated  Red. 


174  Red  Saunders 


"  He  won't  call  that  disturbing  him,"  re 
plied  the  post-mistress,  with  a  shrill  laugh. 
"  He'll  be  here  in  no  time." 

She  was  a  true  prophet.  It  seemed  as  if 
the  boy  had  barely  left  the  store  when  he 
returned  with  a  stoop-shouldered,  solemn- 
faced  man,  who  had  a  brush-heap  of  chin- 
whisker  decorating  the  lower  part  of  his  face. 
After  greetings  and  the  explanation  of  the 
errand,  Mr.  Upton  stroked  his  chin-whisker 
regretfully.  "  Young  man,"  said  he,  "  I'm  in 
a  pecooliar  and  onpleasant  position;  there's 
mighty  feyew  things  I  wouldn't  do  in  a  hawse 
trade,  but  I  draw  the  line  on  murder.  That 
there  hawse'll  kill  you,  just's  sure  as  you're 
fool  enough  to  put  yerself  on  his  back.  I'll 
sell  you  a  real  hawse  mighty  reasonable  —  " 

"  I'll  risk  him,"  cut  in  Red.  "  Could  you 
lead  him  down  here  in  the  morning?  " 

"  Yes,  indeedy  —  he's  a  perfect  lady  of  a 
horse  to  lead  —  you  can  pick  up  airy  foot  — 
climb  all  over  him  in  fac',  s'long's  you  don't 
try  to  ride  him  or  hitch  him  up>.  If  you  do 
that  —  well,  young  man,  you'll  get  a  pretty  fair 
idee  of  what  is  meant  by  one  of  the  demons 
of  hell." 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  175 

"  What  kind  of  saddle  have  you  got?  " 

"  One  of  them  outlandish  Western  affairs 
that  the  scamp  threw  in  with  the  animal — 
you  see,  I  thought  I'd  take  up  horse-back 
riding  for  my  health;  I  was  in  bed  three  weeks 
after  my  fust  try." 

"  I'll  go  you  seventy-five  dollars  for  the  out 
fit,  just  as  you  got  it — chaps,  taps,  and  latigo 
straps,  if  you'll  have  it  in  front  of  my  house 
at  nine  o'clock  to-morrow." 

"  All  right,  young  man — all  right  sir — now 
don't  blame  me  if  you  air  took  home  shoes 
fust." 

"  Nary,"  said  Red.  "  Come  and  see  the 
fun." 

"  I  shorely  will,"  replied  the  old  gentleman. 


IV 

AT  nine  the  next  morning  there  was  a 
crowd  in  front  of  the  house. 

"  What  have  you  been  doing  now,  Will?  " 
asked  Miss  Mattie  with  prescience. 

"  Only  buying  a  horse,  Mattie,"  returned 
Red  soberly.  "  Seems  to  be  quite  an  event 
here." 

"Is  that  all?" 

"That's  all,  so  help  me  Bob!"  Red  had 
a  suspicion  that  there  would  be  objections  if 
she  knew  what  kind  of  a  horse  it  was. 

Lettis,  who  had  roomed  with  Red  over 
night,  was  in  the  secret. 

The  horse  arrived,  leading  very  quietly,  as 
Mr.  Upton  had  said.  It  was  a  buckskin,  fat 
and  hearty  from  long  resting.  Nothing  could 
be  more  docile  than  the  pensive  lower  lip,  and 
the  meek  curve  of  the  neck;  nothing  could 
be  more  contradictory  than  the  light  of  its 
eye;  a  brooding,  baleful  fire,  quietly  biding  its 
time. 

"  Scatter,  friends !  "  cried  Red,  as  he  put  his 
176 


The  Chinook  Struck  F  airfield  177 

foot  in  the  stirrup.  "  Don't  be  too  proud  to 
take  to  timber !  " 

He  swung  over  as  lightly  as  a  trapeze  per 
former,  deftly  catching  his  other  stirrup.  The 
horse  groaned  and  shivered. 

"  Don't  let  him  get  his  head  down !  Gol- 
ding  it !  Don't  you !  "  screamed  Mr.  Upton 
in  wild  excitement. 

Red  threw  the  bridle  over  the  horn  of  the 
saddle.  "  Go  it,  you  devil !  "  cried  he.  And 
they  went.  Six  feet  straight  in  the  air,  first 
pass.  The  crowd  scattered,  as  requested. 
They  hurried  at  that.  Red  gave  the  brute 
the  benefit  of  his  two  hundred  and  a  half  as 
they  touched  earth,  and  his  opponent  grunted 
when  he  felt  the  jar  of  it.  They  rocketted 
and  ricochetted;  they  were  here,  they  were 
there,  they  were  everywhere,  the  buckskin 
squealing  like  a  pig,  and  fighting  with  every 
ounce  of  the  strength  that  lay  in  his  steel 
strung  legs;  the  dust  rose  in  clouds;  Red's  hat 
flew  in  no  time;  he  was  yelling  like  a  maniac, 
and  the  crowd  was  yelling  like  more  maniacs. 
Now  and  then  a  glimpse  of  the  rider's  face 
could  be  caught,  transported  with  joy  of  the 
struggle;  then  the  dust  would  roll  up  and  hide 


178  Red  Saunders 

everything.  No  one  was  more  pleased  at  the 
spectacle  than  the  blacksmith.  He  was  caper 
ing  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  waving  a  hand- 
hammer  and  shouting  "  Hold  him  down! 
Hold  him  DOWN  !  Why  do  you  let  him  jump 
up  like  that?  If  /  was  on  that  horse  Pd  show 
you !  Aw,  there  it  is  again — Stop  him !  Stop 
him!" 

At  this  point  the  buckskin  made  three 
enormous  leaps  for  the  blacksmith,  as  though 
he  had  understood.  The  smith  cast  dignity 
to  the  winds  and  went  over  the  nearest  fence 
in  the  style  that  little  boys,  when  coasting, 
call  "  stomach-whopper  " — or  words  to  that 
effect — and  took  his  next  breath  two  minutes 
later.  He  might  have  saved  the  labour,  as  the 
horse  wheeled  on  one  foot,  and  pulled  fairly 
for  the  picket  fence  opposite.  Red  regretted 
the  absence  of  herders  as  the  sharp  pickets 
loomed  near.  It  was  no  time  for  regrets. 
The  horse  was  over  with  but  little  damage 
— a  slight  scratch,  enough  to  rouse  his  tem 
per,  however,  for  he  whaled  away  with  both 
hind  feet,  and  parts  of  the  fence  landed  a 
hundred  feet  off.  Then  a  dash  through  an 
ancient  grape  arbor,  and  they  were  lost  to 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  179 

view  of  the  road.  Some  reckless  small  boys 
scampered  after,  but  the  majority  preferred 
to  trace  the  progress  of  the  conflict  by  the 
aboriginal  "  Yenvhoops "  that  came  from 
somewhere  in  behind  the  old  houses. 

"  There  they  go !  "  piped  up  a  shrill  voice 
of  the  small-boy  brigade.  "  Right  through 
Mis'  Davisses  hen  coops! — you  ought  to  see 
them  hens  FLY  !  "  The  triumphant  glee  is 
beyond  the  reach  of  words.  Simultaneous 
squawking  verified  the  remark,  as  well  as  a 
feminine  voice,  urging  a  violent  protest,  cut 
short  by  a  scream  of  terror,  and  the  slam  of 
a  door.  The  inhabitants  of  "  Mis'  Davisses  " 
house  instantly  appeared  through  the  front 
door,  seeking  the  street. 

To  show  the  erraticalness  of  fate,  no  sooner 
had  they  reached  the  road,  than  Red's  mount 
cleared  the  parapet  of  the  bridge  in  a  single 
leap — a  beautiful  leap — and  came  down  upon 
them  in  the  road. 

All  got  out  of  the  way  but  a  three-year- 
old,  forgotten  in  the  excitement.  Upon  this 
small  lad,  fallen  flat  in  the  road,  bore  the 
powerful  man  and  horse.  Then  there  were 
frantic  cries  of  warning.  Fifty  feet  between 


180  Red  Saunders 

the  youngster  and  those  mangling  hoofs — 
twenty — five!  the  crowd  gasped — they  were 
blotted  together!  Not  so.  A  mighty  hand 
had  snatched  the  boy  away  in  that  instant  of 
time.  He  was  safe  and  very  indignant  in  a 
howling,  huddled  heap  in  the  ditch  by  the 
roadside,  but  alas,  for  horse  and  rider!  The 
buckskin  was  not  used  to  such  feats,  and 
when  Red's  weight  was  thrown  to  the  side 
for  the  reach  he  missed  his  stride,  struck  his 
feet  together,  and  down  they  went,  while  the 
foot-deep  dust  sprang  into  the  air  like  an  ex 
plosion. 

Miss  Mattie  rushed  to  the  scene  of  the 
accident,  followed  by  everybody.  Young 
Lettis,  equally  frightened,  was  close  beside 
her. 

"  Oh,  Will !    Are  you  killed?  "  she  cried. 

And  then  a  voice  devoid  of  any  signs  of 
weakness,  but  loaded  to  the  breaking  point 
with  wrath,  told  in  such  language  as  had  never 
been  heard  in  Fairfield  that  the  owner  was 
still  much  alive. 

"  Run  away,  Mattie !  Run  away  and  let 
me  cuss ! "  shrieked  Red.  Miss  Mattie  col 
lapsed  into  the  arms  of  Lettis. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  181 

The  dust  settled  enough  so  that  the  anx 
ious  villagers  could  see  horse  and  man;  the 
former  resting  easily,  as  if  he  had  had  enough 
athletics  for  one  day,  and  the  latter  sitting 
in  the  road.  Neither  showed  any  intention 
of  rising. 

"  What's  the  matter,  Mr.  Saunders,  are  you 
hurt?  "  inquired  the  fussy  post-mistress. 

"  Please  go  'way,  ma'am,"  said  Red,  waving 
his  arm. 

"  I'm  sure  you're  hurt — I'm  perfectly  sure 
you're  hurt,"  she  persisted,  holding  her 
ground.  "  Now,  do  tell  us  what  can  possibly 
be  the  matter  with  you?  " 

"  Very  well,"  returned  the  exasperated  cow- 
puncher,  "  I  will.  My  pants,  ma'am,  have 
suffered  in  this  turn-up,  and  they're  now  in 
a  condition  to  make  my  appearance  in  polite 
society  difficult,  if  not  impossible;  now  please 
go  'way  and  somebody  fetch  me  a  horse 
blanket" 

It  is  regrettable  that  the  discomfiture  of 
the  post-mistress  was  received  with  undis 
guised  hilarity.  The  blanket  was  produced, 
and  Red  stalked  off  in  Indian  dignity,  marred 
by  a  limp  in  his  left  leg,  for  he  had  come  upon 


i8i  Red  Saunders 

Mother  Earth  with  a  force  which  made  itself 
felt  through  all  that  foot  of  soft  dust. 

"Bring  that  durn-fool  horse  along,"  he 
called  over  his  shoulder.  Buckskin  rose  and 
followed  his  owner.  There  was  no  light  in 
his  eye  now;  he  looked  thoughtful.  He,  too, 
limped,  and  there  was  a  trickle  of  blood  down 
his  nose.  Verily  it  had  been  a  hard  fought 
field. 

r 

As  both  men  were  anxious  to  see  the  lay 
of  the  land  as  soon  as  possible,  Red  took 
his  place  in  the  waggon  that  day,  after  the 
damages  were  repaired,  content  to  wait  until 
his  leg  was  less  sore  for  horseback  riding. 

There  followed  a  busy  two  weeks  for  them. 
Mr.  Demilt  had  some  money  he  wished  to 
put  into  the  enterprise,  but  his  most  valuable 
assistance  was,  of  course,  his  thorough  knowl 
edge  of  the  resources  of  the  country. 

They  found  an  admirable  site  for  the  mill, 
in  an  old  stone  barn,  which  had  stood  the 
ravages  of  desolation  almost  unimpaired. 
Red's  mining  experience  told  him  that  the 
creek  could  easily  be  flumed  to  the  barn,  and 
as  that  was  the  only  objection  of  the  others 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  183 

to  this  location,  they  wrote  the  owner  of  the 
property  for  a  price.  They  were  astonished 
when  they  received  the  figures.  It  had  come 
by  inheritance  to  a  man  to  whom  it  was  a 
white  elephant  of  the  most  exasperating  sort, 
and  he  was  glad  to  get  rid  of  it  for  almost  a 
song.  They  were  a  jubilant  three  at  the  news. 
It  saved  the  cost  of  building  a  mill,  and  in 
cluding  that,  the  price  was  as  low  per  acre 
as  any  land  they  could  have  obtained.  Red 
closed  the  bargain  instantly. 

Lettis'  part  of  the  business  was  chiefly  to 
arrange  for  the  disposal  of  their  product,  and 
when  he  explained  to  his  partners  what  he 
could  reasonably  hope  to  do  in  that  line,  the 
affair  lost  its  last  tint  of  unreality,  and  became 
a  good  proposition,  for  Lettis  had  an  excellent 
business  acquaintance,  who  would  be  glad  to 
deal  with  the  straightforward  young  fellow. 

The  night  after  the  signing  of  the  deeds, 
Red  said  to  Miss  Mattie,  "  We  ought  to  have 
a  stockholders'  dinner  to-morrow  night,  Mat- 
tie.  If  you  could  hire  that  scowr-built  girl, 
who  wears  her  hair  scrambled,  to  come  in  and 
give  you  a  lift,  would  you  feel  equal  to  it?  " 

"  You  always  put  it  that  I'm  doing  you  a 


184  Red  Saunders 

great  favour  in  such  things,  Will,  but  you 
know  perfectly  well  there's  nothing  I'd  rather 
do,"  replied  Miss  Mattie,  with  a  dimpling 
smile.  "  However,  it  adds  to  the  pleasure  of 
it  to  have  it  put  in  that  way,  so  I  won't  com 
plain.  I'll  just  have  my  supper  first,  and  then 
you  men  can  talk  over  your  business  undis 
turbed." 

"  You  will  not — you'll  eat  with  the  rest  of 


us." 


'  Yes,  but  you  stockholders—"  The  word 
had  an  import  to  Miss  Mattie;  a  something, 
if  not  regal,  at  least  a  kinship  to  the  king. 
Under  her  democracy  lay  a  respect  for  the 
founded  institution;  impersonal;  an  integral 
part  of  the  law  of  the  State;  in  fact,  a  minor 
sovereignty  within  an  empire. 

"Stockholder  yourself!"  retorted  Red. 
"  Don't  you  call  me  names." 

"  What  do  you  mean,  Will?"  asked  Miss 
Mattie,  with  wide-opened  eyes. 

"  I  mean  you're  a  stockholder  as  good  as 
anybody — you've  got  half  my  stack.  Now, 
hold  on !  Just  listen !  This  is  a  queer  run, 
Mattie,  from  the  regulation  point  of  view,  this 
company  of  ours;  I  know  enough  about  fillin' 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  185 

and  backin*  to  know  that — you  ought  to  have 
seen  the  pryin',  and  pokin',  and  nosin1  around 
them  Boston  men  did  before  they  took  holt 
of  the  Chantay  Seeche  and  made  it  a  stock 
company!  One  feller  was  the  ablest  durn 
fool  I  ever  come  acrosst.  I  used  to  let  on  I 
didn't  savvey  anything  about  it.  '  Now,  ex 
plain  to  me/  says  I  to  him.  '  You  say  you 
have  so  many  shares  of  them  stock,'  waving 
my  hand  to  a  bunch  of  critters  in  the  dis 
tance.  'What  part  do  you  take?  I  mean, 
what's  your  share  of  each  animal,  and  does 
the  last  man  get  the  hoofs  and  the  tail? ' 
'  Oh !  you  don't  understand,'  says  he.  '  I'll 
explain  it  to  you.'  So  he  starts  in  to  tell  me 
that  '  stock  didn't  necessarily  mean  beef  crit 
ters,'  and  a  lot  more  things,  whilst  old  man 
Ferguson,  who  was  putting  the  deal  through, 
stood  listening  and  chewing  his  teeth,  think 
ing  I  was  going  to  give  our  friend  the  frolic 
some  hee-hee  at  the  wind-up.  But  I  stood 
solemn,  and  never  even  drew  a  smile,  for  fear 
of  queering  Ferguson.  Well.  That's  the 
proper  way  to  start  a  company;  make  it  as 
dreary  and  long-winded  as  possible.  We 
ain't  done  that,  and  perhaps  we'll  go  broke 


i86  Red  Saunders 

for  breaking  the  rules,  and  then  your  stock 
won't  be  worth  a  cuss;  so  don't  you  get  ex 
cited  about  it.  I  wanted  the  Saunders  family 
to  be  represented.  Pretty  soon  the  old  lad 
with  the  nose  will  be  around,  and  you'll  have 
a  chance  to  read  about  the  '  parties  of  the  first 
part/  and  '  second  parts  of  the  party '  and 
'  aforesaids  '  and  '  behindsaids  '  and  the  rest 
of  the  yappi  them  lawyers  swing  so  that 
honest  men  won't  know  what  the  devil  they're 
up  to." 

"  Oh,  Will !  How  can  I  ever  thank  you ! " 
cried  Miss  Mattie,  her  eyes  filling.  It  seemed 
a  great  and  responsible  position  to  the  gentle 
lady  to  be  a  stockholder  in  the  corporation. 
It  wasn't  the  monetary  value  of  the  thing;  it 
was  the  pride  of  place. 

"  If  you  don't  know  how,  don't  try,"  re 
turned  Red.  "  You  give  the  other  three 
stockholders  a  good  feed  to-morrow  and  the 
thanks  will  be  up  to  you.  Hello !  There's 
the  old  lad  now ! "  as  a  trumpet  blast  rang 
out  from  the  front  porch.  "  It  must  take 
some  practise  to  blow  your  nose  like  that. 
I've  heard  jackasses  that  could  not  bray  in 
the  same  class  with  that  little  old  gent — come 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  187 

in.  Come  in!  You  needn't  sound  the  rally 
again." 

Thus  adjured  the  lawyer  made  his  entrance, 
and  Miss  Mattie  became  in  due  and  involved 
course  of  law  a  stockholder  in  the  Fairfield 
Strawboard  Mfg.  Co. 

Fairfield  rose  to  activity  like  a  very  small 
giant  refreshed.  Teams  and  their  heavy  loads 
kept  the  respectable  dust  in  constant  com 
motion.  A  grist  mill  was  added  to  the  in 
tended  plant,  thus  offering  an  inducement  to 
the  farmer  to  raise  grain,  and  incidentally 
straw,  "  So  we  can  ketch  'em  on  both  ends, 
too,"  as  Red  put  it. 

The  time  seemed  like  enchantment  to  Miss 
Mattie.  As  a  bringer  of  the  tidings,  and  a 
stockholder  in  the  company,  she  had  risen  to 
be  a  person  of  importance,  with  the  result 
that  she  was  even  more  modestly  shy  than 
before,  although  in  her  heart  she  liked  it;  but 
more  delightful  yet  was  the  spirit  of  holiday 
activity  which  inspired  and  pervaded  the 
place. 

Red  had  insisted  on  operating  on  the  lines 
that  are  laid  down  with  railroad  spikes  in  the 
Western  communities;  to  patronise  home  in- 


i88  Red  Saunders 

dustries  as  much  as  possible.  Therefore  the 
machinery  orders  went  through  Mr.  Parrel, 
the  blacksmith,  initiating  that  worthy  man 
into  the  mysteries  of  making  money  without 
doing  anything  for  it,  which  seemed  little  less 
than  a  miracle  to  him.  Everything  that  could 
be  bought  through  local  people  was  obtained 
in  that  way.  It  cost  a  trifle  more,  but  it 
brought  more  money  into  the  place,  and  en 
abled  the  villagers  to  partake  of  the  enliven- 
ment,  without  the  feeling  that  it  was  a  Bar 
mecide  feast.  The  post-mistress  furnished  the 
paint,  and  it  is  painful  to  add  that  she  tried 
to  furnish  a  number  three  paint  for  a  number 
one  price,  arguing  that  she  was  a  poor,  lone 
woman,  struggling  through  an  uncharitable 
world  and  that  the  increased  profit  would  do 
her  considerable  good — a  view  which  Red  did 
not  share.  He  would  willingly  have  made  her 
a  present  of  the  difference,  but  he  did  not  in 
the  least  intend  to  be  choused  out  of  it  by 
man  nor  woman.  They  had  a  very  funny  de 
bate  in  private,  wherein  the  feminine  tried  to 
dominate  the  masculine  principle  by  sheer 
volubility  and  found  to  its  disgust  that  the 
method  didn't  work.  Red  listened  most  re- 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  189 

specttully  and  always  replied,  "Yes  ma'am, 
but  we  don't  want  that  paint.  Get  us  some 
good  paint — bully  old  paint  with  stick'um  in 
it — this  stuff  is  like  whitewash,  only  feebler. 
We're  going  to  put  on  a  swell  front  up  at  the 
mill,  and  we've  got  to  have  the  right  thing." 
And  at  last  the  post-mistress  said  that  she 
would,  her  respect  for  the  ex-cowpuncher 
having  risen  noticeably  in  the  meantime. 


THE  work  on  the  mill  was  pushed,  and 
in  spite  of  the  usual  amount  of  unfore 
seen  delays,  it  was  ready  for  work  by  the 
latter  part  of  September.  The  official  open 
ing  was  set  for  the  twenty-seventh — Miss 
Mattie's  birthday — and  the  village  of  Fairfield 
was  invited  to  a  picnic  to  be  held  at  the  mill 
in  honor  of  the  occasion.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  the  Fairfield  Strawboard  Mfg.  Co. 
did  the  thing  up  in  shape.  Waggons  loaded 
with  straw,  and  drawn  by  four-horse  teams, 
went  the  rounds  of  the  village,  collecting  the 
guests.  It  is  doubtful  if  Fairfield  was  ever 
more  surprised  than  at  the  realisation  of  how 
much  there  was  of  her — using  the  pronoun 
out  of  respect  to  the  majority — "  when  she 
was  bunched,"  as  Red  said.  You  would  not 
have  believed  that  straggling,  lonesome-look 
ing  place  held  so  many  people.  As  Red  could 
discover  no  means  in  the  town's  resources  to 
provide  a  meal  for  three  hundred  people  it 
was  necessarily  a  basket  party,  which  struck 
190 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  191 

Mr.  Saunders  as  being  grievously  like  a  Swede 
treat.  He  made  up  for  it  in  a  measure  by 
having  barrels  of  lemonade  and  cider  on  tap 
at  the  grounds — stronger  beverages  being 
barred — and  by  hiring  a  quartette  of  strings 
"  clear  from  town." 

At  half-past  two  on  a  resplendent  but  hot 
September  afternoon  the  caravan  started  for 
the  mill  grounds,  the  women  dressed  in  the 
most  un-picnicky  costumes  imaginable,  and 
the  men  ostentatiously  at  ease  in  their  store 
clothes.  Everyone  was  in  the  best  of  spirits, 
keen  for  the  excitement  and  pleasure  that  was 
sure  to  mark  the  occasion. 

Red  rode  old  Buckskin,  who  had  suc 
cumbed  to  the  inevitable,  and  only  "jumped 
around  a  little,"  as  Red  put  it,  on  being 
mounted.  It  was  pretty  lively  "  jumping 
around,"  but  perhaps  Mr.  Saunders  found 
some  satisfaction  in  sitting  perfectly  at  his 
ease,  smoking  his  cigarette,  while  Buck 
jumped  and  Fairfield  admired.  And,  at  any 
rate,  Buck  had  legs  of  iron,  and  the  wind  of 
a  locomotive,  carrying  Red  all  day,  and  will 
ing  to  kick  at  anything  which  bothered  him 
when  night  came.  He  was  a  splendid  beast 


192  Red  Saunders 

through  and  through,  from  forelock  to  tail- 
tip,  but  he  had  learned  who  was  his  master 
and  obeyed  him  accordingly. 

It  was  a  five  mile  ride,  mostly  under  the 
shade  of  fine  old  trees.  The  road  wound 
around  the  hills;  here  and  there  a  break  in 
the  arboreal  border  showed  views  of  rolling 
country,  well-shaped  and  pleasing,  winding 
up  grassy  slopes  in  groves  of  verdure.  Of 
course  most  of  the  freshness  of  leaf  was  past, 
yet  the  modest  gray-green  gave  a  silvery 
sheen  to  the  landscape  that  brought  it  into 
unity. 

One  member  of  the  party  felt  that  his  heart 
was  very  full  as  he  looked  at  it.  That  was 
Lettis.  "  Blast  the  old  office ! "  he  kept  say 
ing  to  himself.  "  Blast  its  six  dingy  win 
dows,  and  the  clock  at  the  end !  Doesn't  this 
look  good,  and  doesn't  it  smell  good,  dust 
and  all?  "  and  then  he'd  howl  at  the  horses 
in  sheer  exuberance  of  good  feeling,  making 
the  mild  old  brutes  put  a  better  foot  of  it 
to  the  front. 

Red  cantered  up  beside  his  waggon.  "  Well, 
Lettis,"  he  said,  "  here  we  go  for  the  open 
ing  overture,  with  the  full  strength  of  the 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  193 

company — we're  great  people  this  day,  ain't 
we?  "  And  the  big  man  smiled  like  a  pleased 
big  boy. 

"Oh,  what  a  bully  old  fellow  you  are!" 
thought  Lettis  as  he  looked  at  him.  Lettis 
was  thinking  of  other  qualities  than  flesh,  but 
the  physical  Red  Saunders  on  horseback  was 
deserving  of  a  glance  from  anybody;  the 
massive  figure  so  well  poised;  the  clear  cut, 
proud  profile;  the  shapely  head  with  its  crown 
of  red-gold  hair;  the  easy  grace  of  him  by 
virtue  of  his  strength — it  would  be  a  remark 
able  crowd  in  which  Chanta  Seechee  Red 
couldn't  pass  for  a  man.  He  was  every  inch 
of  that  from  the  ground  up. 

Lettis  had  come  to  bow  down  to  him  in 
adoration,  with  all  an  affectionate  boy's  wor 
ship.  To  those  eyes  Red  was  just  right,  in 
every  particular.  Likewise  to  Miss  Mattie, 
who  even  now  was  filling  her  eyes  with  him, 
from  behind  the  vantage  of  a  broad-brimmed 
straw  hat. 

At  last  the  whole  party  disembarked  at  the 
flat  before  the  mill,  and  made  ready  for  the 
official  starting  of  the  machinery.  The  big 
doors  were  thrown  open,  so  that  the  company 


194  Red  Saunders 

could  see  within  while  resting  outside  in  the 
shade,  and  under  the  cooling  influence  of 
what  breeze  there  was.  The  mill  was  officially 
started.  Red  climbed  the  bank  to  the  flume, 
and  raised  the  gate.  The  crowd  cheered  as 
the  imprisoned  waters  leapt  to  freedom  with  a 
hollow  roar,  raising  in  pitch  as  the  penstock 
filled  and  the  wheels  began  to  go  round. 
Speech  was  called  for,  and  the  vigorously 
protesting  Red  forced  to  the  front  by  his 
former  friends,  Demilt  and  Lettis.  Thus  be 
trayed  by  those  he  trusted,  Red  made  the 
best  of  it. 

"  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  fellow  citizens ! " 
said  he.  "  The  mill  is  now  open  to  all  comers. 
We  hope  to  make  this  thing  a  success;  we 
hope  to  see  every  horny-handed,  hump-backed 
farmer  in  the  country  rosin  the  soles  of  his 
moccasins,  and  shove  his  plough  through  twice 
as  much  ground  as  he  ever  did  before,  and  if 
he  comes  here  with  his  plunder,  we'll  give 
him  a  square  shake.  We'll  pay  him  as  much 
as  we  dast,  and  not  let  him  in  on  the  ground 
floor,  so  he  can  crawl  out  through  the  coal 
hole,  as  is  sometimes  done.  Now,  everybody 
run  away  and  have  a  good  time,  for  I  don't 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  195 

like  to  talk  this  yappi  any  more  than  you  like 
to  hear  it.  Kola  geus !  By-bye !  " 

It  was  a  very  successful  picnic.  They  spent 
the  afternoon  in  wandering  around  in  the 
usual  picnic  fashion,  developing  appetites, 
until  it  occurred  to  Red  to  liven  the  perform 
ance  by  showing  them  the  art  of  roping,  as 
practiced  upon  an  old  cow  found  in  the  woods. 
As  a  spectacle  it  was  a  failure.  The  com 
bined  efforts  of  all  the  hooting  small  boys 
could  not  make  that  cow  run;  she  even 
stretched  her  neck  toward  Red,  as  though 
saying,  "  Hurry  up  with  your  foolishness.  I 
have  a  cud  to  chew  and  can't  stand  here  idle 
all  day."  So  Red  galloped  by  and  threw  the 
noose  over  her  head  as  an  exhibition  of  how 
the  thing  was  done,  rather  than  how  it  ought 
to  be  done.  Nevertheless,  picnic  parties  are 
not  hypercritical  in  the  matter  of  amusement, 
and  the  feat  received  three  encores.  The  last 
time  he  missed  his  cast  through  overconfi- 
dence.  Whereat  the  old  cow  tossed  her  head 
and  tail  in  the  air,  and  tore  off  at  an  elephan 
tine  gallop,  with  a  bawl  that  sounded  to  Red 
mightily  like  derision. 

"  Burned  if  she  ain't  laughing  at  me !  "  he 


196  Red  Saunders 

cried.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  a  hornet 
and  its  unmistakable  sting  that  injected  this 
activity  into  her  system. 

It  was  all  very  pleasant  to  Miss  Mattie,  as 
one's  first  picnic  in  many  years  should  be. 
She  enjoyed  the  crisp  green  sod,  the  great 
trees  standing  around,  park-like,  with  the  sun 
light  falling  between  their  shade  like  brilliant 
tatters  of  cloth-of-gold;  while  from  the  near 
distance  came  the  tiny  shouting  of  cool  waters. 
They  had  a  camp-fire  at  night,  making  the 
moonlight  still  more  mysterious  and  remote 
by  contrast.  The  quartette  of  strings  played 
for  the  ears  of  those  who  cared  to  listen  and 
for  the  legs  of  those  who  chose  to  take  chances 
on  tripping  their  light  fantastic  toes  over  tree 
roots  in  the  grass. 

Red  loved  music,  and  he  loved  the  night. 
The  poetic  side  of  his  memories  of  watching 
the  Dipper  swing  around  Polaris,  while  he 
sung  the  cows  to  sleep,  came  back  to  him. 
In  his  mind  he  saw  the  vast  prairie  roll  on  to 
infinity;  saw  the  mountains  stand  out,  a  world 
of  white  peaks,  rising  from  a  sea  of  darkness. 
Again  he  heard  the  plaintive  shrilling  of  an 
Indian  whistle,  or  the  song  of  the  lad  down 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  197 

creek  made  tuneful  and  airy  by  the  charm  of 
distance. 

"  Having  a  good  time,  Mattie?  "  he  asked, 
with  a  smile. 

"  The  best  I  ever  had,  Will,"  she  answered, 
smiling  back  unsteadily.  Poor  lady !  The  size 
of  an  occasion  is  so  many  standards,  whether 
the  standard  be  inches  or  feet,  or  miles.  Miss 
Mattie's  events  had  been  measured  in  hun- 
dredths  of  an  inch,  and  it  took  a  good  many 
of  them  to  cover  so  small  an  action  as  a  suc 
cessful  picnic  on  a  beautiful  night.  Her  eyes 
were  humid;  her  mouth  smiled  and  drooped 
at  the  corners  alternately.  Red  felt  her  hap 
piness  with  a  keen  sympathy,  and  as  he  looked 
at  her,  suddenly  she  changed  in  his  eyes. 
Just  what  the  difference  was  he  could  not 
have  told;  nor  whether  it  was  in  her  or  in 
him.  A  sudden  access  of  feeling,  undefin- 
able,  unplaceable,  but  strong,  possessed  him. 
There  is  a  critical  temperature  in  the  life  of 
a  man,  when  no  amount  of  pressure  can  ever 
make  the  more  expansive  emotions  assume 
the  calmer  form  of  friendship.  There  was 
something  in  Miss  Mattie's  eye  which  had 
warmed  Red  to  that  degree,  but  he  didn't 


198  Red  Saunders 

know  it.  He  only  knew  that  he  wanted  to 
sit  rather  unnecessarily  close  beside  her,  and 
that  he  would  be  sorry  when  it  came  time  to 
go  home.  And  he  was  very  silent. 

During  the  drive  back  to  the  house  he 
spoke  in  monosyllables;  he  went  straight  to 
the  barn  with  Lettis  afterward,  and  made  no 
attempt  to  take  the  usual  frank  and  hearty 
good-night  kiss. 

"  You're  as  glum  as  an  oyster !  "  said  Lettis, 
when  they  reached  their  quarters.  "  What's 
the  matter,  old  man?" 

"  I  don't  know,  Let ;  I  feel  kind  of  quiet, 
somehow." 

"  Sick?    Or  something  go  wrong?  " 

"  No;  nothing  of  the  kind;  it's  just  sort  of 
an  attack  of  stillness,  but  I  feel  durn  good." 

Lettis  laughed.  "  If  it  wasn't  you,  Red,  I'd 
say  you  were  in  love,"  he  said. 

It  was  well  the  barn  was  dark;  or  he  would 
have  seen  a  change  wonderful  to  behold  come 
over  the  ex-puncher's  face.  "  The  lad  has 
hit  it,"  he  said  to  himself  in  astonishment; 
aloud  he  grunted  "  hunh "  scornfully,  and 
aroused  himself  for  an  unnecessary  joke  or 
two. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  199 

Miss  Mattie  had  noticed  the  "  attack  of 
stillness  "  and  immediately  tried  to  fasten  the 
blame  upon  herself.  What  had  she  done? 
She  couldn't  recall  anything.  She  remem 
bered  she  had  said  something  about  the  way 
his  hair  looked  with  the  moon  shining  on  it; 
perhaps  he  had  taken  offence  at  that;  the  re 
mark  was  entirely  complimentary,  but  some 
times  people  are  touchy  about  such  things; 
still  that  was  not  the  least  like  Cousin  Will. 
She  must  have  said  or  done  something  though 
— what  could  it  be?  Oh  what  a  pitiful  mem 
ory  that  could  not  recollect  an  injury  done 
to  one's  best  friend!  She  tossed  and  won 
dered  over  it  for  a  long  time  before  at  length 
she  fell  asleep. 

Red  also  looked  up  at  the  roof,  and  took 
account  of  stock.  His  face  was  radiant  in  the 
dark.  "If  I  could  only  pull  that  off!"  he 
thought.  "  I  must  seem  an  awful  rough  cuss 
to  her,  though;  all  right  for  a  cousin,  but  it's 
different  when  you  come  to  the  other  propo 
sition.  My  Jiminy !  I'll  take  a  chance  in  the 
morning  and  find  out  anyhow !  "  said  he,  and, 
eased  in  mind  by  the  decision  of  action,  he 
too  shook  hands  with  Morpheus  and  was 
presently  dreaming. 


200  Red  Saunders 

It  had  never  occurred  to  Red  Saunders 
that  he  was  afraid  of  anybody.  He  even 
chuckled,  when  he  got  Lettis  out  of  the  way 
with  a  plausible  excuse  the  next  morning. 
Then  he  strode  briskly  into  the  house,  his 
question  on  his  lips  in  a  plump  out-and-out 
form. 

Miss  Mattie  looked  at  him  with  her  slow 
smile.  "  What  is  it?  "  she  asked. 

Red  swallowed  his  question  whole.  "  I — I 
wanted  a  little  hot  water  to  shave  with,"  said 
he.  Then  a  fury  took  hold  of  him.  "  What 
the  devil  am  I  lying  like  this  for?  "  he  thought. 
He  exhorted  himself  to  go  on  and  say  what 
he  had  to  say  like  a  man;  but  the  other  Red 
Saunders  refused  to  do  anything  of  the  sort. 
He  took  the  cup  of  hot  water  most  abjectly 
and  fled  from  the  house.  He  had  to  shave 
then,  and  in  his  hurry  and  indignation  he 
turned  the  operation  into  a  clinic.  "  Oh 
Jiminy !  Look  at  that !  "  he  cried,  as  the 
razor  opened  up  another  part  of  the  subject. 
"  There's  a  slit  an  inch  long !  If  I  keep  on 
at  this  gait,  I  won't  have  face  enough  to  say 
good  morning,  let  alone  what  I  want  to  do. 
What  ails  me?  What  ails  me?  Why  should 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  201 
/ 

I  be  scart  of  the  nicest  woman  God  ever  built? 
Now  by  all  the  Mormon  Gods !  I'll  post  right 
into  the  house  and  say  my  little  say  as  soon 
as  these  cuts  stop  bleeding!" 

Cob-webs  stopped  the  cuts,  and  other  cob 
webs  stopped  Red  Saunders,  late  of  the  Chanta 
Seechee  ranch;  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
of  the  very  finest  bone  and  muscle.  And 
the  cob-webs  held  him,  foaming  and  boiling 
with  rage  and  disgust,  calling  himself  all  the 
yaller  pups  he  could  think  of,  but  staying 
strictly  within  the  safe  limits  of  the  barn.  It 
was  a  revelation  to  the  big  man,  and  not  a 
pleasant  one.  How  was  he  to  know  that  the 
most  salient  point  of  his  apparent  cowardice 
was  nothing  less  worthy  than  respect  for  the 
woman's  purity?  That  if  he  would  stop  swear 
ing  long  enough  to  get  at  the  springs  of  his 
action,  he  would  find  that  he  hesitated  be 
cause  the  new  light  on  the  matter  made  huge 
shadows  of  the  slips  in  the  career  of  a  strong, 
lawless,  untrained  but  sorely  tempted  man? 
He  knew  nothing  of  the  sort,  and  the  fun 
niest  of  comedies  took  place  in  the  barn. 
He  would  reach  the  sensible  stage.  "  Pah ! 
All  foolishness.  Go?  Of  course  he'd  go,  and 


202  Red  Saunders 

this  very  minute,  and  have  the  thing  done 
with,  good  or  bad  ";  he  was  quite  amused 
at  his  former  conduct — until  he  reached  the 
door.  Then  he'd  skip  nimbly  back  again, 
with  a  hot  feeling  that  somebody  was  watch 
ing  him,  although  a  careful  inspection 
through  the  crack  of  the  door  revealed  no 
one. 

Red  discovered  another  thing  that  after 
noon,  which  was  that  the  more  nervous  you 
are  the  more  nervous  you  get.  He  groaned 
in  perfect  misery :  "  Ohoho !  That  I  should 
have  seen  the  day  when  I  was  afraid  to  ask 
anybody  anything.  What's  come  over  me 
anyhow?  It's  this  darn  country,  I  believe — 
'tain't  me,"  then  he  stopped  short.  "What 
you  saying,  Red?  "  he  queried.  "  Why  don't 
you  own  up  like  a  man ! "  The  fact  that  it 
had  a  funny  side  struck  him,  and  he  laughed, 
half  forlornly,  and  half  in  thorough  enjoy 
ment.  He  suddenly  sobered  down.  "  She's 
worth  it,  anyway,"  said  he.  "  She's  the  best 
there  is,  and  I  ought  to  feel  kind  of  leery  of 
the  outcome — Well — Now,  I  guess  I  won't 
say  anything  till  there's  a  downright  good 
chance.  I  see  I  didn't  savvy  this  kind  of 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  203 

business  like  I  thought  I  did.  'Twouldn't  be 
no  kind  of  manners  to  step  up  to  a  lady  and 
shout.  '  I'd  like  to  have  you  marry  me,  if 
you  feel  you've  got  the  time!'  That  don't 
go  no  more  than  a  Chinaman  on  roller-skates. 
Your  work  is  good.  Red,  but  it's  a  little 
lumpy  in  spots;  them  two  left  feet  bother  you; 
you're  good  in  your  place,  but  you'd  better 
build  a  fence  around  the  place — damn  the 
luck!  Smotheration !  I  think  she  likes  me, 
all  right,  but  when  it  comes  to  more'n  that 
— oh,  blast  it,  I'll  just  have  to  wait  for  a  real 
good  chance;  now  come,  old  man,  get  four 
feet  on  the  ground  and  don't  roll  your  eyes, 
take  it  easy  till  the  chance  comes." 

Little  he  knew  the  chance  was  coming  up 
the  street  at  that  moment.  He  only  saw  Miss 
Mattie  step  out  into  the  bed  of  flowers,  her 
face  looking  unusually  pretty  and  youthful 
under  the  big  straw  hat,  and  start  to  reduce 
the  weeds  to  order.  She  glanced  around  as 
though  in  search  of  some  one,  and  Red  felt 
intuitively  that  the  one  was  himself. 

"  Here's  where  I  ought  to  act  as  if  I  wore 
long  pants,"  said  he;  "  now,  what's  to  hinder 
me  from  going  out  there  and  get  a-talking? " 


204  Red  Saunders 

And  then  he  sat  down  hastily,  more  disgusted 
than  ever,  and  smote  the  air  with  his  fist. 
"  You'd  think  the  nicest,  quietest  woman 
that  ever  lived  was  a  wild  beast,  the  way  I 
act;  yes  sir,  you  would! 

Meantime  the  chance  drew  nearer.  It  was 
not  a  pleasant  looking  opportunity.  Its  eyes, 
full  of  dread  and  dreadful,  peeped  out  from 
beneath  a  brush  of  matted  hair;  a  tough, 
ropy  foam  hung  from  its  mouth.  If  you  put 
as  much  of  that  foam  as  would  go  on  the 
point  of  a  pin  in  an  open  cut,  you  would 
have  an  end  that  your  worst  enemy  would 
shudder  at.  For  this  was  the  most  horrify 
ing  of  dangerous  animals — a  mad  dog.  Poor 
brute!  As  he  came  shambling  down  the 
road,  he  was  the  grisly  mask  of  tragedy. 

It  was  near  noon,  intensely  hot,  and  the 
street  of  Fairfield  was  deserted.  No  one 
saw  the  dog,  and  if  his  occasional  rattling, 
strangling  howl  reached  any  ears,  they  were 
dead  to  its  meaning.  He  was  unheeded  until 
he  lurched  through  the  gate  which  Lettis 
had  left  open,  as  usual,  and  spinning  around 
in  a  circle  gave  voice  to  his  cry. 

It  brought  Miss  Mattie  to  her  feet  in  an 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  205 

unknown  terror;  it  brought  Red  from  the 
barn  in  a  full  cognizance — he  had  heard  that 
sound  before,  when  a  mad  coyote  landed  in 
a  cabin-full  of  fairly  strong  nerved  cowmen, 
and  set  them  screeching  like  hysterical  women 
before  a  chance  shot  ended  him. 

Red  saw  the  brute  jump  toward  Miss 
Mattie.  Instantly  his  hand  flew  to  his  hip, 
and  as  instantly  he  remembered  there  was 
nothing  there.  Then  with  great,  uneven  leaps 
he  sprang  forward.  "  Keep  your  hands  up, 
Mattie,  and  don't  move ! "  he  screamed. 
"  Let  him  chew  the  dress !  For  God's  sake, 
don't  move !  " 

She  turned  her  white  face  toward  his,  and 
through  the  dimness  of  sight  from  his  strain 
ing  efforts,  he  saw  her  try  to  smile,  as  she 
obeyed  him  to  the  letter,  and  without  a  sound. 
"  O,  brave  girl !  "  he  thought,  and  threw  the 
ground  behind  him  desperately. 

At  twenty  feet  distance  he  dove  like  a  base- 
runner,  and  his  hands  closed  around  the  dog's 
neck.  Over  they  went  with  the  shock  of  the 
onset,  and  before  they  were  still,  the  hands 
had  finished  their  work.  A  clutch,  and  a 
snap,  and  it  was  done. 


2o6  Red  Saunders 

The  dog  lay  quivering.  Red  rose  to  his 
knees  wondering  at  the  humming  in  his  head. 
His  wits  came  back  to  him  sharply. 

"  Did  he  bite  you,  Mattie?  "  he  cried.  But 
she  had  already  caught  his  hands  and  was 
looking  at  them,  with  a  savage  eagerness  one 
would  not  have  believed  to  be  in  her. 

"  There  is  no  mark,"  she  said,  suddenly 
weak,  "  he  didn't  touch  you?  " 

"  Answer  me  when  I  speak  to  you ! " 
shouted  Red,  beside  himself.  "  Did  he  bite 
you?  " 

She  answered  him  with  a  sob  "  No."  And 
then  his  question  asked  itself,  and  answered 
itself,  although,  again,  he  did  not  know  it. 
He  gathered  her  up  in  his  arms,  kissed  her 
like  one  raised  from  the  dead,  and  swore  and 
prayed  and  thanked  God  all  in  the  same 
breath. 

His  old  imperious  nature  came  back  with 
the  relief.  "  Here !  "  said  he,  putting  her 
away  for  a  moment.  "  Take  off  that  dress — 
that  slime  on  there's  enough  to  kill  a  hundred 
men — take  it  right  off." 

Miss  Mattie  started  blindly  to  obey,  then 
stopped.  "Not  here,  Will— I'll  go  in  the 
house,"  she  said. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfieid  207 

"You'll  take  it  off  right  here  and  now," 
said  Red,  "  and  I'll  burn  it  up  on  the  spot. 
I'd  ruther  have  forty  rattlesnakes  around  than 
that  stuff — off  with  it.  This  is  no  child's  play, 
and  I  don't  care  a  damn  what  the  old  lady 
next  door  thinks." 

Miss  Mattie  slipped  off  her  outer  skirt,  and 
stood  a  second,  confused  and  dainty.  She  took 
flight  to  the  house,  running  as  lithely  as  a 
greyhound. 

"  By  Jingo ! "  said  Red  in  admiration. 
"  Let's  see  you  bring  another  woman  that 
can  run  like  that !  " 

He  gathered  some  hay  and  piled  it  on  the 
dress,  firing  the  heap. 

Then  he  turned  to  his  antagonist.  "  Poor 
old  boy!  Hard  luck,  eh?  But  I  had  to  do 
it,"  he  said,  and  gave  him  decent  interment 
at  the  end  of  the  garden;  washed  his  hands 
carefully  and  went  into  the  house  on  pleasanter 
duties. 

"  I'll  ask  her  now,  by  the  great  horn  spoon !  " 
said  he,  valiantly. 

Miss  Mattie  was  in  a  curious  state  of  mind. 
There  was  an  after  effect  from  the  fright, 
which  made  her  tremble,  and  a  remembrance 


208  Red  Saunders 

of  Cousin  Will's  actions  which  made  her 
tremble  more  yet.  When  she  heard  him  com 
ing  she  started  to  fly,  although  now  clothed 
beyond  reproach,  but  her  knees  deserted  her, 
and  she  was  forced  to  sink  back  in  her  chair. 
Red  came  in  whistling  blithely — vainglorious 
man! 

He  had  his  suspicions,  generated  by  the 
peculiar  fervour  Miss  Mattie  had  shown  in 
regard  to  his  hands. 

"  Mattie,"  quoth  he,  "  I'm  tired  of  living 
out  there  in  the  barn — I  want  a  respectable 
house  of  my  own." 

"Yes,  Will,"  replied  Miss  Mattie,  aston 
ished  that  he  should  choose  such  a  subject  at 
such  a  time. 

"  Yes,"  he  continued,  "  and  I  want  a  wife, 
too.  You  often  said  you'd  like  to  do  some 
thing  for  me,  Mattie;  suppose  you  take  the 
job?" 

How  much  of  glancing  at  a  thing  in  one's 
mind  as  a  beautiful  improbability  will  ever 
make  such  a  cold  fact  less  astonishing?  Miss 
Mattie  eyed  him  with  eyes  that  saw  not; 
speech  was  stricken  from  her. 


The  Chinook  Struck  Fairfield  209 

Red  caught  fright.  He  sprang  forward  and 
took  her  hand.  "  Couldn't  you  do  it,  Mat- 
tie?  "  said  he.  There  was  a  world  of  pleading 
in  the  tone.  Miss  Mattie  looked  up,  her  own 
honest  self;  all  the  little  feminine  shrinkings 
left  her  immediately. 

"  Ah,  but  I  could,  Will !  "  she  said. 

Lettis  came  up  on  the  stoop  unheard.  He 
stopped,  then  gingerly  turned  and  made  his 
way  back  on  tip-toe,  holding  his  arms  like 
wings. 

"  Well,  by  George !  "  he  murmured,  "  I'll 
come  back  in  a  little  while,  when  I'll  be  more 
welcome." 

He  spoke  to  Red  in  strong  reproach  that 
night,  in  the  barn.  "  You  never  told  me  a 
word,  you  old  sinner ! "  said  he. 

"Tell  you  the  honest  truth,  Let,"  replied 
Red  earnestly,  looking  up  from  drawing  off 
a  boot,  "  I  didn't  know  it  myself  till  you  told 
me  about  it." 

They  talked  it  all  over  a  long  time  before 
blowing  out  the  light,  but  then  the  little  win 
dow  shut  its  bright  eye,  and  the  only  life  the 
mid-night  stars  saw  in  Fairfield,  was  Miss 


210  Red  Saunders 

Mattie,  her  elbow  on  the  casement,  looking 
far,  far  out  into  the  tranquil  night,  and  think 
ing  mistily. 


THE  END 


THE  BLAZED  TRAIL 


1TJ.R.  WHITE  has  intermingled  the  romance 
of  the  forests  with  the  romance  of  a  man's 
heart,  making  a  story  that  is  big  and  elemental, 
while  not  lacking  in  sweetness  and  tenderness. 
It  is  an  epic  of  the  life  of  the  lumbermen  in  the 
great  forests  of  the  Northwest,  permeated  in 
every  line  by  out-of-door  freshness  and  the 
glory  of  the  labor  of  the  struggle  with  nature. 
It  wih1  appeal  to  everyone  who  cares  for  trees, 
the  forests  or  the  open  air. 

44  Mr.  White  has  the  power  to  make  you  feel  the  woods 
as  the  masters  of  salt-water  fiction  make  you  feel  the 
sea." — The  Boston  Herald. 

44  Of  the  majesty  of  the  falling  forests  the  book  is  elo 
quent,  and  its  place  in  the  history  of  our  literature  is 
secure." — The  Chicago  News. 

4'  He  has  realized  to  the  full  the  titanic  character  of  the 
struggle  between  man  and  nature  in  the  forest,  and  has 
reproduced  it  in  his  pages  with  an  enthusiasm  and 
strength  of  insight  worthy  of  his  theme." 

—The  St.  James  Gazette. 

Eighteenth  Edition  $1.50 


SlpcClure,  ^tUtpg  &  Co. 


George  Bouglas 


THE  HOUSE  WITH  THE 
GREEN  SHUTTERS 

r 

A.  STORY  remarkable  for  its  power,  remark 
able  for  its  originality,  and  remarkable  for  its  suc 
cess.  The  unique  masterpiece  of  an  unfortunate 
young  author,  who  died  without  knowing  the 
unstinted  praise  his  work  was  to  receive.  The 
book  portrays  with  striking  realism  a  phase  of 
Scottish  life  and  character  new  to  most  novel- 
readers.  John  Gourlay,  the  chief  personage  in 
the  drama,  inhabitant  of  the  "House  With 
the  Green  Shutters  "  and  master  of  the  village 
destinies,  looms  up  as  the  personification  of  the 
brute  force  that  dominates.  He  stands  apart 
from  all  characters  in  fiction.  In  the  broad 
treatment  and  the  relentless  sweep  of  its  trage 
dy,  the  book  suggests  the  work  of  Dumas. 

"  If  a  more  powerful  story  than  this  has  been  written  in 
recent  years  we  have  not  seen  it.  It  must  take  first 
honors  among  the  novels  of  the  day." 

— Philadelphia  Item. 

"  One  of  the  most  powerful  books  we  have  seen  for  a 
long  time,  and  it  marks  the  advent  of  a  valuable  writer." 

— New  York  Press. 

$1.50 

jftcClure,  ^illipjS  &  Co. 


^eumas 


Author  of  "Through  the  Turf  Smoke" 

A  LAD  OF  THE  OTRIEL'S" 


A  HIS  is  a  story  of  Donegal  ways  and  customs  ; 
full  of  the  spirit  of  Irish  life.  The  main  char 
acter  is  a  dreaming  and  poetic  boy  who  takes 
joy  in  all  the  stories  and  superstitions  of  his 
people,  and  his  experience  and  life  are  thus 
made  to  reflect  all  the  essential  qualities  of  the 
life  of  his  country.  Many  characters  in  the 
book  will  make  warm  places  for  themselves  in 
the  heart  of  the  reader. 


Goth,  12mo  $1.50 


&  Co, 


Author  of  "The  Barrys,"  "  Irish  Pastorals" 

THE  SQUIREEN 

r 

MR.  BULLOCK  takes  us  into  the  North  of 
Ireland  among  North-of-Ireland  people.  His 
story  is  dominated  by  one  remarkable  character, 
whose  progress  towards  the  subjugation  of  his 
own  temperament  we  cannot  help  but  watch 
with  interest.  He  is  swept  from  one  thing  to 
another,  first  by  his  dare-devil,  roistering  spirit, 
then  by  his  mood  of  deep  repentance,  through 
love  and  marriage,  through  quarrels  and  sepa 
ration  from  his  wife,  to  a  reconciliation  at  the 
point  of  death,  to  a  return  to  health,  and 
through  the  domination  of  the  devil  in  him, 
finally  to  death.  It  is  a  strong,  convincing 
novel  suggesting,  somewhat,  "  The  House  with 
the  Green  Shutters."  What  that  book  did  for 
the  Scotland  of  Ian  Maclaren  and  Barrie,  "  The 
Squireen  "  will  do  for  Ireland. 

Cloth,  12mo  $1.50 


&  Co. 


JHorrtson 


THE  HOLE  IN  THE  WALL 

r 

IM  O  ONE  knows  the  lower  side  of  London  life 
so  well  as  Arthur  Morrison,  and  this  novel  is 
his  most  masterly  presentation  of  the  under 
world  with  which  he  is  so  familiar.  He  has  knit 
mean  characters,  mean  passions,  mean  stage 
setting  into  a  powerful  drama  of  life  that  thrills 
as  much  because  of  the  realism  with  which  it  is 
drawn  as  because  of  the  exciting  scenes  that 
come  treading  helter-skelter  upon  each  others 
heels.  The  rough  sailors,  the  thugs  and  crim 
inals  that  frequent  the  "Hole  in  the  Wall" 
Inn  lose  none  of  their  picturesqueness,  nor  any  of 
their  sordidness  either,  from  Mr.  Morrison's  treat 
ment  of  them.  He  handles  his  material  in  a 
way  that  suggests  strongly  the  work  of  Dickens. 
As  an  intimate  picture  of  the  lowest  life  in 
London,  the  novel  is  without  an  equal. 

"  It  is  a  section  of  human  life  showing  true  lights  and 
shadows,  a  section  cut  by  an  exceedingly  sharp  blade. 
Some  of  the  things  that  Dickens  is  most  praised  for  are 
evident  in  the  work  of  Mr,  Morrison." 

—  Springfield  Republican. 

"  All  of  Mr.  Morrison's  work  deserves  the  recognition  it 
has  attained,  but  this  is  undoubtedly  the  most  artistic, 
the  most  virile,  and  the  most  heartrendingly  true." 

—  Baltimore  Sun. 
_  $1.30 

jHcClurc.,  fillips  &  Co, 


Bennett 


Author  of  "  The  Great  Babylon  Hotel" 

ANNA  OF  THE  FIVE  TOWNS 


J;  ROBABLY  no  story  of  the  year  is  so  simply 
and  yet  so  artistically  told  as  this  one.  It 
portrays  the  development  of  a  sweet  and  nat 
ural  girl's  character,  amid  a  community  of  strict 
Wesleyan  Methodists  in  a  Staffordshire  town. 
How  her  upright  nature  progresses  with  con 
stant  rebellions  against  the  hypocrisy  and  cant 
of  the  religionists,  by  whom  she  is  surrounded, 
is  brought  out  by  the  author  faithfully  and 
with  great  delicacy  of  insight.  Many  will  love 
Anna,  and  not  a  few  will  find  something  in  her 
to  suggest  "  Tess  of  the  Durbervilles."  The 
plot  is  extremely  simple,  but  the  reader  will 
find  a  surprise  in  the  last  chapters. 

The  English  letter  from  W.  L.  Alden,  in  the  New  York 

Times  Review  says  : 

"It  will  be  promptly  recognized  by  the  critics  whose 

opinion  is  worth  something  a*  the  most  artistic  story  of  the 

year" 

Goth,  12mo  $1.50 


,  fillips  &  Co. 


Ml8 191 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


